Labour accuses govt of ‘dragging its heels’ over sentencing
Sir Keir Starmer accuses the Government of "dragging its heels" over changing the law to compel criminals to attend their sentencing hearings. The Labour leader says, "I want to see action as quickly as possible in this case because victims' families have been through the most awful ordeal”. On Monday serial child killer Lucy Letby refused to attend her sentencing hearing, which has accelerated calls for a change in the law. Report by Blairm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Transcript
00:00 My thoughts are with the victim's families and the anger and frustration that I know they feel at the fact that she won't face justice in the way that she should.
00:10 When I was Director of Public Prosecutions, I saw for myself just how important it is for families to see the defendant in the dock being sentenced.
00:18 It's an integral part of the way that we do justice in this country.
00:22 Now, this isn't the first case. We've had other cases, the Olivia case up in Liverpool and other cases where this has happened.
00:29 I think that we should change the law. We've made an open offer to the government.
00:34 If they come forward with a proposal to change the law, we will support it.
00:38 I think they just really now need to get on with it so that justice can be seen to be done.
00:42 Well, I want to see action as quickly as possible in this case because the victim's families have been through the most awful ordeal.
00:50 They're entitled to see justice delivered with the full sentencing.
00:54 So we need to change the law. I hope the government will do it because I think it can be done very quickly.
00:59 If they don't, we will force an amendment to appropriate legislation.
01:03 But actually, my position is to invite the government to get on with it, to offer Labour support so this could go through very, very quickly.
01:13 This isn't the first case. The government has been dragging its heels on this.
01:17 Get on with it for the sake of these victims and, of course, the other cases that went before it.