Anthony Harvey has been sentenced to life in prison with no release for the murder of his entire family.

Bedford murders: Perth man sentenced to life in jail with no release

A man who murdered his three young children, wife and mother-in-law has become the first person in Western Australia ordered by a judge to never be released from prison.

Anthony Robert Harvey, 25, killed two-year-old twins Alice and Beatrix, three- year-old Charlotte and their mother Mara Lee Harvey, 41, at their Bedford home on September 3, 2018.

Grandmother Beverley Ann Quinn, 73, was murdered when she visited the next morning.

Harvey had written in a journal about embracing his “darkness and animal instincts” and “eliminating” his family, a sentencing hearing in the WA Supreme Court heard last month.

“I am no psycho. I feel. I feel too much, I always have … I will regret what I do,” he wrote.

Justice Stephen Hall today said Harvey had brutally and selfishly killed his family for his own reasons.

“Your actions were so far beyond the bounds ... they would instil horror and revulsion in the most hardened of people,” Justice Hall said.

He had come to the conclusion that life in jail without the chance of parole was justified for the exceptionally horrific crime.

He said the women were unsuspecting, while the children were asleep when they were attacked.

“This is the place they should have been safest,” Justice Hall said. “They should have been able to trust their father to protect them. “That’s the most fundamental duty any parent has.”

Justice Hall also acknowledged the grieving family left behind. “They continue to grieve for the loss of so many members of their family and have also endured the psychological impact that the loss has caused,” he said.

Some details of Harvey’s offending are so shocking that they have been suppressed.

The court also heard about Harvey’s mental health and a suggestion he had symptoms consistent with high-functioning autism.

But Justice Hall also noted Harvey, who earlier pleaded guilty to all five murders, could have a narcissistic personality disorder.

Justice Hall said the journal entries were “not a mere record of dark fantasies”, adding that Harvey planned the murders.

Director of Public Prosecutions Amanda Forrester argued the killings were so degrading and abhorrent that Harvey should never have hope of freedom. It would make him the first person ordered never to be released under laws changed in 2008.

Defence counsel Sam Vandongen said his client was remorseful and urged Justice Stephen Hall not to make the order.

The court heard Ms Quinn and Ms Harvey were struck on the head with a pipe and repeatedly stabbed with a newly purchased large knife.

Harvey said he quickly tried to “finish” his wife of three years, stabbing her at least 12 times.

The children were murdered with a smaller knife, with Charlotte stabbed 38 times.

They were all covered with a doona and flowers, as well as notes saying he was sorry and he loved them.

Harvey remained at the house for days and lied to his wife’s employer to explain her absence.

He then travelled about 1500km north to the Pilbara town of Pannawonica where he turned himself in to police on September 9 with the help of his father. Harvey said he had not been angry with his family and described his marriage as good.