A ROBBER serving a life sentence for the ''cruel and sadistic'' murder of a shop manager had his hopes of immediate freedom dashed by a judge yesterday.

Ryan Monks, 34, was one of the latest batch of murderers serving mandatory life sentences sent back to the high court after Scots law was changed to ensure that it complies with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Monks had been told by the parole board he would be released on licence in January this year after serving 12 years of his sentence, but he will now have to serve 14 years before the board can look at his case again.

Under the 2001 Convention Rights (Compliance) (Scotland) Act, the length of time a person sentenced to life for murder must serve as a punishment period, covering retribution and deterrence, is specified by the trial judge in open court. Only when that period has expired is a decision made on whether the prisoner should be released and that is the responsibility of the parole board which must take the protection of the public into account.

Existing mandatory life prisoners are going through a series of hearings before high court judges to have the punishment part of their sentences decided and some have already served much longer than the period set down by the judge.

That does not necessarily mean that they are likely to be released in the near future since most have already had repeated parole board applications turned down on public safety grounds.

The change in the law, which came into effect in October last year, also means government ministers no longer have the ultimate say in deciding how long a life prisoner should serve before being eligible for parole or when the release should take place.

Monks and accomplice Paul Mill plotted a raid on a Dundee post office in May 1989 and decided they would need weapons to stage the robbery.

They attacked Gordon Johnston in his gun shop in Union Street, Dundee, kicking and punching him before throwing him down a flight of stairs and battering him to death with an axe or iron bar. They then ran off with guns and ammunition and (pounds) 100 in cash. Lord Mayfield, the trial judge, who has since retired, described the murder as cruel and sadistic.

When Monks appeared before Lord Dawson at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday for the punishment part of his sentence to be fixed, Pat Wheatley, defence solicitor advocate, explained that his client had

been given a release date of

January but that had been overtaken by the change in the law. He told the judge that at the time of the offence Monks was a 21-year-old first offender.

Lord Dawson said he took that into account but added: ''From the trial judge's report, you actively took part in a planned robbery when violence took place. That indicates that what happened was a calculated and brutal attack.''

The judge told Mill, 33, he should serve at least 13 years.