‘Drag killers into dock to face sentence’, judges urged | UK | News | EUROtoday

It comes after cowardly Kyle Clifford turned the most recent high-profile killer to refuse to attend court docket to listen to their ­punishment meted out.

On Tuesday, Clifford, 26, obtained three whole-life sentences at Cambridge Crown Court for the murders of former girlfriend Louise Hunt, 25, her sister Hannah, 28, and their mom Carol, 61, at their house in Bushey, Hertfordshire, final July.

At a trial the week earlier than, at which he additionally didn’t seem, he had been discovered responsible of raping Louise earlier than killing her.

Other killers who’ve refused to attend sentencing embrace Thomas Cashman, 35, who shot lifeless Olivia Pratt-Korbel, 9, in Liverpool in August 2022, serial little one killer Lucy Letby, 35, and Jordan McSweeney, 31, who sexually assaulted and beat to demise Zara Aleena, 35, in Ilford, east London, in June 2022.

After Clifford’s refusal, Farah Naz, Ms Aleena’s aunt, gave a radio interview saying new powers have to be introduced in.

But judges have already got the facility to make an order for jail workers to make use of ­“reasonable force” to get defendants to attend any a part of a prosecution, together with sentencings.

In August 2023, following public outcries, Rishi Sunak’s authorities introduced legal guidelines that might give a “new power for judges to order offenders to attend sentencing hearings”. It added “offenders who refuse could be forced into the dock by prison staff or receive an extra two years in jail”, though that a part of the shake-up has not but been handed.

If a decide orders the manufacturing of the defendant, jail workers should make all makes an attempt to influence them to attend, together with giving a direct order. Force can solely be used as a final resort if “necessary, reasonable and proportionate”.

But a judiciary supply stated that judges are reluctant to make use of the powers for concern of the potential spectacle of a defendant wrestling with workers within the dock.

An instance of the powers emerged throughout a terrorism case at West­­minster Magistrates’ Court this month, when an 18-year-old from Lancashire, charged with six terrorism offences, had refused to attend a preliminary listening to remotely from Wormwood Scrubs jail in west London.

The district decide made an order authorising the jail governor to permit the “use of reasonable force” to provide him on a video hyperlink at one other listening to two days later. In the top, workers didn’t pressure him to attend the video hyperlink, and the case was handled over a cellphone and transferred to the Old Bailey.

Former Met Police officer Steve Perkins stated: “If powers exist under common law they should be using them where necessary. There’s no need to wait for new laws – use the powers they have.”

And former Met DCI Dave McKelvey, who now runs a non-public safety agency, stated: “The courts and the justice system have become far too weak. The power to compel a convicted person to attend their ­sentencing, especially to hear victim impact statements, is essential to delivering justice. Right now, offenders seem to have more rights than their victims and the public, and that needs to change.”

A judiciary supply stated: “It’s right judges can order the offender to attend their sentencing hearing and if the defendant refuses that order can result in prosecution.

“This is not often used as there is always a concern the behaviour of the offender in the dock may disrupt proceedings and cause greater distress to victims.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson stated: “Judges can order a defendant to appear for any hearing if it is in the interests of justice. If defendants refuse, they can be punished, including losing privileges in prison.”

The spokesperson added that the brand new laws for an additional two years in jail for non-­compliance “will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows”.