'Stop dragging your heels': Sunak told to force killers into sentencing hearings

Ministers say they are looking at how defendants can be forced into the dock or forced to hear what is being said, Carl Dinnen reports

Rishi Sunak has been told to speed up plans to force killers into their sentencing hearings at court after child killer Lucy Letby avoided attending in person.

Former nurse Letby - who was sentenced to life in prison for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others - refused to leave her cell on Monday, meaning she did not hear from the parents of her victims about the impact of her heinous crimes.

The prime minister condemned Letby's "cowardly" move and said a law change which would compel murderers to attend their sentencing hearings in person would come "in due course".

Speaking to broadcasters on Monday, the PM said: "I think it’s cowardly that people who commit such horrendous crimes do not face their victims and hear first hand the impact that their crimes have had on them and their families and loved ones.

“We are looking and have been at changing the law to make sure that that happens and that’s something that we’ll bring forward in due course.”

But Mr Sunak has made this pledge before, after Thomas Cashman - who murdered nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel - followed the murderers of Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa in refusing to face their sentencing in person.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the government of "dragging its heels" on plans for new legislation and offered to work with ministers in order to speed up the process.

“I want to see action as quickly as possible in this case because victims’ families have been through the most awful ordeal. They’re entitled to see justice delivered…

“So we need to change the law. I hope the government will do it because I think it can be done very quickly.

“If they don’t, we will force an amendment to appropriate legislation. But actually, my position is to invite the government to get on with it, to offer Labour’s support so this could go through very, very quickly.

“This isn’t the first case. The government has been dragging its heels on this. Get on with it for the sake of these victims, and of course, the other cases that went before it.”

Judges can order defendants to come to court prior to verdicts being delivered. If they fail to obey, they can be found in contempt of court and face up to two years in prison – but the law does not cover sentencing hearings.

Cheryl Korbel, the mother of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, said her heart goes out to the families of Letby's victims.

“It’s important for the families.

“Writing the impact statement was really hard. It wasn’t going to take minutes. It was days, over a matter of weeks.

“It’s important for the offenders to listen to the pain that they’ve caused, the pain that is ongoing.

“Going to prison is supposed to be a rehabilitation.

“That first port of call of rehabilitation should be in that courtroom and standing there listening to the judge and listening to the families’ impact statements.”

Former justice secretary Robert Buckland had called for the sentencing to be played into Letby’s cell if she did not attend and said contempt of court rules should be extended to cover sentencing.

In a victim impact statement, the mother of twin boys Child E and Child F, who Letby was convicted of murdering and attempting to murder respectively, said Letby’s absence was “one final act of wickedness”.

She told the court: “Even in these final days of the trial she has tried to control things, the disrespect she has shown the families and the court show what type of person she is.

“We have attended court day in and day out, yet she decides she has had enough and stays in her cell – just one final act of wickedness from a coward.”

Mr Justice Goss, speaking at Manchester Crown Court, said he was unable to order 33-year-old Letby into the dock but would sentence her as if she was, and ruled she should be given a copy of his remarks.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk insisted the government still wants to change the law to compel offenders to attend their sentencing hearings.

Writing on Twitter, Mr Chalk said: “Lucy Letby is not just a murderer but a coward, whose failure to face her victims’ families, refusing to hear their impact statements and society’s condemnation, is the final insult.

“We are looking to change the law so offenders can be compelled to attend sentencing hearings.”

But with Parliament currently in recess, law changes on sentencing hearing will not begin until autumn at the soonest.

Mr Sunak also defended the non-statutory inquiry announced by the government into Letby’s crimes amid calls for it to be put on a statutory footing led by a judge.

Asked whether it should be upgraded to a judge-led probe, with the power to compel witnesses to appear before it, the PM said: “I think the important thing for the inquiry to do is make sure that families get the answers that they need, that it is possible for us to learn the lessons from what happened, everything conducted transparently, and to happen as quickly as possible.

“Those are the objectives that we want for the inquiry and we’ll make sure that it’s set up to deliver on those aims.”

Letby's crimes took place between 2015 and 2016 while she was working on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire.

She injected air into the babies via their tubes, causing air embolisms and leaving them unable to breathe, as well as over-feeding some.

'The impact of your crimes has been immense' - Mr Justice Goss delivers his sentence:

Mr Justice Goss said: "The impact of your crimes has been immense, disclosed by the deeply moving personal statements that have been read to the court this morning.

"The lives of newborn or relatively new born babies were ended almost as soon as they began and lifelong harm has been caused, all in horrific circumstances.

"Loving parents have been robbed of their cherished children and others have to live with the physical and mental consequences of your actions.

"Siblings have been deprived of brothers and sisters, you have caused deep psychological trauma, brought enduring grief and feelings of guilt, caused strains in relationships and disruption to the lives of all the families of all your victims."

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