Serial killer Bruce McArthur — who killed eight men with ties to Toronto’s Gay Village in the span of seven years — has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.The ruling means McArthur, 67, will be first eligible for parole at age 91 — the earliest-possible date, given his crimes.McArthur faced an automatic sentence of life in prison after pleading guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder. The only question Superior Court Justice John McMahon had to settle Friday was whether McArthur would serve concurrent sentences or consecutive sentences, which would have pushed his parole eligibility far into the future and effectively assured he die in prison.That may well have been “a distinction without a difference,” McMahon told a packed downtown courtroom Friday morning before sentencing the killer to eight concurrent life sentences.“If (McArthur) either had a trial or would have been younger, I would have had no hesitation in imposing consecutive parole ineligibility terms,” he said.Even if McArthur lives to 91, the chances are “very remote at best” he will ever get parole, McMahon said.Strong mitigating factors in the sentencing decision, McMahon said, were the killer’s decision to take responsibility, waive a preliminary hearing and plead guilty — thus avoiding the “nightmare” of a “graphic” months-long trial. Those in attendance, including court staff, “would have needed counselling services at the end of the day,” McMahon said.McMahon’s decision comes after two days of sentencing submissions in which the Crown prosecutor released new details about the murders, and family and friends of the killer’s victims described their pain. Members of Toronto police — including Insp. Hank Idsinga and Det.-Sgt. David Dickinson, the lead investigators the case — held a news conference reacting to the ruling Frida ...
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