PM pledges law to force criminals to sentencings

Prime Minister Kier Starmer has vowed to give judges powers to force criminals to appear in the dock to receive their sentences.

The pledge came during a meeting with Cheryl Korbel, the mother of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, who was shot dead in her home in April 2023.

Thomas Cashman, the gunman who killed Olivia as he chased a drug dealer who had tried to run into her home in Liverpool, would not face the court to be jailed for 42 years.

Starmer told campaigner Ms Korbel the pledge was a "promise" he "intended to keep".

Ms Korbel met with the previous prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who also pledged to bring in the new power but did not see through his plans before the Conservatives lost power in July 2024.

Speaking of the law change during the meeting with Olivia's mother, Sir Keir said: "It's really important to meet today because we met 17 months ago and I said two things: we will support the previous government on this, and if we get into power, we'll make sure this happens.

"That's the promise I made to you and it's a promise I'm going to keep, and that's why this is forthcoming legislation is so important.

"We have put this in the first King's Speech, so we will legislate on this at the first chance and we should have it before the summer."

The law change is expected to be made in the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill, which will be laid in Parliament in the next few months.

The Prime Minister's pledge comes after a spate of high-profile cases in which defendants have sparked public outcry by not appearing at their own sentencing hearings.

Lucy Letby, who murdered seven babies and attempted to kill seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 while she worked as a nurse on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital, was absent from her sentencing.

Jordan McSweeney, who killed 35-year-old law graduate Zara Aleena as she walked home from a night out in Ilford, east London in 2022, also failed to appear to hear his life sentence handed down.

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