Can someone please explain this prison sentence to me please?

[Soubriquet]

Dh pointed it out to me.

David Carrick has been sentenced to 36 life sentences after sexually assaulting and raping 49 women. He was a police officer.

So why is he then sentenced to a minimum of 30 years?

If he has 36 life sentences, shouldn’t he be in prison for life?!

A whole life tariff would make more sense than 36 life sentences that are served at once with a minimum of 30 yrs

He almost certainly won't be. In that regime he may not survive till he's 78, and there's a good chance he won't get parole easily if or when they start to consider it after the 30 years have passed.

Of course, the other advantage of ‘bothering’ to prosecute him and others for the other crimes/victims, even though it as they’re served concurrently it won’t affect the overall length of the sentence, is in the case of an appeal. Should, for whatever reason, one or more of the judgements be overturned at appeal then he will still stay behind bars, serving out the other concurrent sentences.