MOORS murderer Ian Brady could walk free if the new EU treaty is passed, it is claimed.

A clause in the controversial document, which bans `disproportionate' punishments for crimes, may hand European courts the final say over sentences.

Earlier this year, the then-Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer insisted that the worst murderers, such as Brady and Soham killer Ian Huntley, should never be released from jail.

However, not all EU countries have life sentences, and some have maximum terms of 20 years.

The Foreign Office denied that the line in the treaty - stating that `the severity of penalties must not be disproportionate to the criminal offence' - could affect the decisions of British courts.

But shadow home secretary David Davis warned that the wishes of judges and MPs in this country could be overruled.

He said: "Gordon Brown should be under no illusion that British laws are a matter for the British Parliament and should be applied by British judges.

"There is no way to know how European courts would interpret these measures."

Gordon Brown is due to sign the treaty at a meeting of EU leaders next month. However, he has been coming under increasing pressure to hold a referendum rather than push the deal through Parliament.

Critics insist the document is virtually identical to the EU constitution, which was scrapped after being voted down in France and Holland.

Concerns have also been raised that the treaty would make it illegal under EU law to try someone twice for the same crime.

Britain changed its 800-year-old `double jeopardy' laws in 2005 so people could be tried again.

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