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‘Cowardly’ criminals ordered to attend final court sentencing hearings
They'll face even longer behind bars if they don't.
“Cowardly” criminals who try to evade the final moment of justice are to be forced to attend their sentencing hearings, the Government has announced.
And they will face even longer behind bars if they refuse to appear.
In the wake of a number of recent highly-publicised examples of criminals failing to appear in the dock for their final sentencing, including former neonatal nurse and serial killer Lucy Letby, who was convicted for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six more between 2015 and 2016, and gunman Thomas Cashman, who killed nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Liverpool back in August 2022, the Government has this week announced reforms that will create new powers for judges.
These reforms will now grant judges the power to order an offender to attend their hearings, and make it clear in law that force can be used to make sure this happens.
The power of custody officers to use “reasonable force” to make criminals appear in the dock or via video link will also be enshrined in law, the Government has confirmed.
This means “every effort” will be made for victims and their families to “see justice delivered”.
Not only that, but the Government has also revealed that if a criminal continues to resist to order to attend their final sentencing despite a judge’s order – specifically in cases where the maximum sentence is life imprisonment – they will even face an extra two years behind bars.
The change will mean victims can “look offenders in the eye” and tell them of the “devastating consequences of their crime” as they read out their impact statement, rather than addressing an empty dock, the Government says.
“It is unacceptable that some of the country’s most horrendous criminals have refused to face their victims in court,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said as the reforms were announced.
“They cannot and should not be allowed to take the coward’s way out.
“That’s why we are giving judges the power to order vile offenders to attend their sentencing hearings, with those who refuse facing being forced into the dock or spending longer behind bars.”
The Government says judges will have the discretion to assess the situation around the case and those it involves, and use these new powers “as they see fit” so that they can “ensure justice is done” in the correct way.
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Legislation to introduce these changes will be “set out in due course”, the Government concluded.
Featured Image – Cheshire Constabulary | Merseyside Police
News
NHS to begin offering new one-minute jab to women with ‘aggressive’ form of cancer
Emily Sergeant
The NHS is set to begin offering new immunotherapy for hundreds of women with aggressive cervical cancer across the country.
Pembrolizumab – which experts have described as being able to ‘take the handbrake off’ the body’s immune system to target cancer – will now be presented as a new treatment option for women in England with locally-advanced cervical cancer, which means the cancer has grown beyond the cervix to regions such as the pelvic wall, but not yet spread further around the body.
Trials found that adding pembrolizumab to standard chemoradiotherapy helped keep cancer ‘at bay’ for longer, and improved survival rates overall.
Two years after starting the treatment, nearly seven in 10 patients (68%) were still living without their cancer progressing, compared with 57% for those receiving chemoradiotherapy alone, according to NHS figures.
The trial also found that 82.6% of patients were still alive three years after treatment with pembrolizumab and chemoradiotherapy, compared with 74.8% with chemoradiotherapy alone.
The drug is either given every three or siz weeks via an infusion, or as a ‘one-minute’ injection, alongside chemoradiotherapy.
The NHS estimates around 550 patients in England will be eligible for the treatment – which has been approved this week by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) – over the next two years.
Patients will now receive fast-tracked access, funded by NHS England’s Cancer Drugs Fund.
“This is great news for women facing a diagnosis of aggressive cervical cancer, and represents one of the biggest improvements in treatment for this disease in recent years,” commented Professor Peter Johnson, who is the NHS National Clinical Director for Cancer.
“Combining this immunotherapy with existing treatment has had very positive effect for patients in trials, helping the body’s immune system to target cancer more effectively.
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“We’re delighted it will be available for patients on the NHS as it could help hundreds more women survive and stay cancer-free in the long-term.”
Featured Image – NappyStudio (via Unsplash)
News
Andy Burnham wants to bring the ‘Greater Manchester way’ to Westminster
Emily Sergeant
Andy Burnham has set out his vision for the country if he is to become Prime Minister.
In case you need brining up to speed first, after it was announced earlier this month that Andy Burnham had clinched the victory in the crucial Makerfield by-election, winning 24,927 votes (54.8% vote share) and a majority of 9,231, he then went onto announce his intention to run for Labour Party leader, and therefore Prime Minister, after Keir Starmer confirmed he would be stepping down.
And this week, Mr Burnham has now delivered his first speech as part of his ongoing campaign, addressing how he plans to give the country a ‘new direction’.
Burnham says that he wants to bring the ‘Greater Manchester way’ to Westminster.
A lot has been discussed and reported on when it comes to Burnham’s intentions to create a so-called Number 10 North here in Manchester, but what exactly does it mean to take the ‘Greater Manchester way’ to the capital?
“The Greater Manchester way is based on strong partnership between all sectors: public, private,
community, voluntary, academic, faith, and our trade unions,” Burnham said in his speech.
He continued: “When I started as Mayor in 2017, we set about building a new approach, a new politics based on the exact opposite of the Westminster approach.
“Place-first, not party-first. Problem-solving, not point-scoring. Long-term, not short-term.
“A decade on, it’s incredible how much we’ve been able to achieve by working together instead
of fighting against one another.”
Burnham said he feels the truth is that the country spends ‘too much time arguing and not enough time doing’ and that for Britain to get back where it ‘should be’, his Government would ask everyone to ‘face the same way’ and then ‘pull in that same direction together’.
He declared that No 10 North will be the ‘nerve centre’ for a rewired Britain.
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“It will be the conduit through which we redistribute power and resources across the UK,” he concluded. “It will coordinate all parts of Government, at national and local level, to agree a long-term
economic strategy and help all places set new growth ambitions.”
Featured Image – GMCA
Emily Sergeant -
31st August 2023 
