They are responsible for some of the worst crimes imaginable.
And these prisoners will never be freed from jail after being handed down a rather rare sentence of whole life tarrifs.
Some of these infamous criminals were given 'life means life' terms by judges while others must remain behind bars forever on the order of the then Home Secretary.
Here we take a look at some notorious prisoners from the North East or those who have spent time in jails in the region.
Levi Bellfield
Milly Dowler’s killer was told in 2011 he should never be released from prison.
The serial killer was sentenced to life in prison in 2008 over the murder of Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange.
Bellfield, born Levi Rabetts, is also known as Yusuf Rahim.
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The sick killer who beat his victims to death has been named as a suspect in connection with a number of unsolved murders and attacks on women dating back to 1990 – as well as the murder of his childhood girlfriend, 14-year-old Patsy Morris in 1980.
He is serving life at the top-security prison HMP Frankland, in County Durham.
Charles Bronson
Known as the “most violent prisoner in Britain”, Bronson has spent time in prisons across the country.
He was first jailed in 1974 for armed robbery and has spent much of his life behind bars.
Bronson has spent time at HMP Durham and Frankland.
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Michael Adebolajo
Michael Adebolajo was jailed for life for the sickening murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby.
Adebolajo, alongside Michael Adebowale, attacked and killed the off-duty soldier on a street in Woolwich, South East London.
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After running him down with a car, the sick duo used knives and a cleaver to hack Rigby to death, telling passers-by they killed a soldier to avenge the deaths of Muslims by British soldiers.
Adebolajo has had a spell in Frankland.
Sean Mercer
The story of the senseless murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones recaptured the nation’s attention after an ITV drama, Little Boy Blue was shown in 2017.
Football fan Rhys had been walking home from a local sports ground when he was caught in the crossfire when gang member Sean Mercer fired three shots across a pub car park, intended to hit members of a rival gang nearby.
Rhys was shot in the back and died in his mother’s arms after she rushed to the scene.
Sean Mercer was 16 years old when he shot Rhys in the carpark of the Fir Tree Pub and a leading member of the Croxeth Crew gang.
In December 2008 Mercer, then 18, was found guilty of murder following a nine-week trial and jailed for life, with a minimum sentence of 22 years behind bars.
He was locked up at HMP Frankland.
Yorkshire Ripper - Peter Sutcliffe
Serial killer Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper, is one of Britain's most notorious killers.
He was moved to Frankland in August 2016 after spending three decades at Broadmoor secure unit.
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Sutcliffe was given 20 life sentences in 1981 after admitting murdering 13 women and attempting to kill seven more.
His final victim, Jacqueline Hill, from Middlesbrough, a 20-year-old student, was found battered to death on November 17, 1980, on waste ground in Leeds.
He struck while murder detectives mistakenly targeted a North East killer after the notorious Wearside Jack tapes.
Charles Taylor
The former president of Liberia was jailed for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A UN-backed court convicted him of war crimes over his support for rebels who committed atrocities in Sierra Leone.
In 2012 Taylor was found guilty of 11 counts of “aiding and abetting” war crimes and crimes against humanity, making him the first head of state to be convicted by an international tribunal since Karl Dönitz at the Nuremberg Trials.
He was sentenced to 50 years in prison for his atrocities and on 15 October 2013 he was transferred to British custody, at HMP Frankland.
Ian Huntley
Evil Ian Huntley murdered 10-year-old girls Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, in their home town of Soham, Cambridgeshire.
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The school caretaker enticed them into his home before killing them in what police believe was a fit of rage.
His then girlfriend, Maxine Carr, provided Huntley with a false alibi and was jailed for perverting the course of justice.
Huntley is in Frankland.
William McFall and Stephen Unwin
McFall and Unwin savagely killed loving mum Quyen Ngoc Nguyen during a terrifying ordeal.
They met in prison where they were both serving life sentences for murdering pensioners, in similar but unrelated crimes.
The pair remained pals after their release and stayed in contact.
In 2017, they lured mum-of-two Miss Nguyen, of Killingworth, to Unwin’s home, in Houghton-le-Spring, where she was held for four hours and tortured.
They subjected her to a heinous and prolonged attack in which she was sexually abused, held captive and stolen from.
The pair then put Miss Nguyen into the back of her own car, splashed her in petrol and set her on fire at Shiney Row, near Sunderland, while she was still alive.
McFall, 51, of Waterloo Road, Blackpool, and Unwin, 40, of St Oswald’s Terrace, Houghton-le-Spring, were both handed full life orders after they were found guilty of the horrifying murder at Newcastle Crown Court.
Unwin was also convicted of rape.
Rosemary West
In 1995, West was convicted of the murder of 10 women and girls in her home in Gloucester.
The victims included one of her daughters and a step-daughter.
Her husband Fred West committed suicide in jail before he could be tried for 12 murders.
Rose West was locked up in HMP Durham and is now in HMP Low Newton, County Durham.
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