This is an extract from Tom Seaward's weekly crime and court newsletter which you can sign up to for free.
Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s killer Thomas Cashman’s refusal to attend Manchester Crown Court for his sentencing this week saw him branded a ‘coward’ by Merseyside’s top cop.
The judge who sent him down for 42 years, Mrs Justice Yip, said it was ‘disrespectful’ to the tragic nine-year-old’s family – who had to read their victim impact statements to an empty dock.
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On Monday, Cashman’s brief John Cooper KC said his client had heard that Crown Prosecution Service staff were allegedly singing the Queen hit 'We Are The Champions' after jurors found him guilty of Olivia’s murder.
"He has been spoken to and been given certain advice but he is concerned that the matter is turning into a circus,” the senior barrister said.
Cashman’s refusal to leave his cell has reopened calls for the government to bring in new rules that would force prisoners to come to court for sentencing.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab mooted the plans in February, after Jordan McSweeney failed to attend his sentencing for the murder of 35-year-old Zara Aleena in Ilford.
He said he was looking at whether judges could be able to impose longer jail sentences on criminals who refuse to attend court.
Mr Raab tweeted this week: "Spineless criminals like Cashman who hide from their sentencing prolong the suffering of victims and their families.
"As I have already made clear, I plan to change the law to compel offenders to face up to their actions, so victims can see the justice they deserve being served."
Ask anyone in the street and I suspect they would say that criminals – particularly murderers – should be made to come to court for their sentencing so, as the Justice Secretary said, their victims can ‘see justice being served’.
From the offender’s point of view, though, the situation may be more fraught.
They might be a ‘coward’ – as Cashman was branded by Merseyside's chief constable - scared of or unable to face up to what they have done.
More commonly, in my experience, when a defendant who has been remanded in custody doesn’t turn up to court it’s because they are concerned about being moved to a prison closer to the court.
Take a recent example from Oxford Crown Court.
Judge Michael Gledhill KC became increasingly frustrated at the end of last month after Shaun Page’s repeated failures to attend court from HMP Swaleside, in Kent.
On any view, Page was a dangerous man.
Still only in his early 20s, the tattooed lag has more than 100 offences on his rap sheet – including for attacking fellow inmates and prison officers.
When the deputy governor at HMP Swaleside was summonsed to court – after staff seemingly ignored an order from the judge to explain themselves – a more complicated picture emerged.
Page, who is currently serving time for throwing boiling water over inmates at HMP Bullingdon, was scared of returning to the Oxfordshire jail.
Not only that, but he was receiving mental health help at Swaleside and had forged good relationships with support workers there.
It was only after the duty governor stayed behind after his shift and patiently explained to Page that he would be taken to Oxford Crown Court and straight back again to Swaleside that the inmate eventually agreed to go to the city of dreaming spires for his sentencing.
The legal proceedings were illuminating, too, for Judge Gledhill’s researches on the law.
He told the prison governor that he could find no foundation in law for the Prison Service’s guidance that judges had no power to order gaolers to use force if necessary to bring inmates to court.
He suggested that the governor could take his ruling to the High Court if she wished.
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About the author
To sign up to Tom's crime newsletter click here: https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/newsletters/
Tom is the crime and court writer for the Oxford Mail and winner of Newsquest Reporter of the Year in 2022.
His 'Court news: The inside scoop' newsletter is released every Thursday providing the lowdown on the latest big crime stories.
Tom is a graduate from the University of Oxford.
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