The disconnect between actions and consequences that bedevils this country’s justice system suffered a modest reversal today. The government has announced that legislation will be introduced to compel convicted offenders to appear before the judge at a sentencing hearing or face sanctions. This honours a promise made by Keir Starmer’s predecessor Rishi Sunak after he met the parents of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, a nine-year-old girl murdered by Thomas Cashman last year. Cashman refused to attend the court in an act of utter cowardice.
Will these new powers be used? That is a question with a political answer.
The fact that a few additional days in prison on top of a 42-year minimum sentence or no access to the gym would only have a symbolic effect in this case misses the point. That Olivia’s parents were denied the chance to look the man who destroyed their lives in the eyes as he was sent down has far greater significance.
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