Criminals should serve in full the prison sentence they are given by a court, Sara Payne said yesterday.

The Victims' Champion said she felt “very strongly” that offenders should complete their jail terms and not, as most are, be released at the half way point.

Mrs Payne also criticised the practice of giving out a so-called “life” sentence during which the offender can be released on licence.

The public expected such criminals to spend the rest of their natural lives behind bars, she said.

Mrs Payne, who took up her post at the end of January, has spent the last nine months looking in detail how the criminal justice system treats victims. The resulting report, Redefining Justice, raises serious questions about Government policy.

As well as questioning sentencing and early release, Mrs Payne turns her guns on the treatment of victims of anti-social behaviour.

She says: “The term anti-social behaviour has too easily come to describe types of behaviour which are plainly criminal and totally unacceptable.

Since the death of her daughter Sarah at the hands of paedophile Roy Whiting in 2000, Mrs Payne has become a prominent campaigner for victims' rights.