A new legal measure designed to force criminals to attend their sentencing hearings has cleared its final parliamentary hurdle.
Olivia’s Law, named after a murdered Liverpool schoolgirl, was passed by the House of Lords yesterday as part of the larger Victims and Courts Bill and is now awaiting royal assent.
It makes it a legal requirement for criminals to attend their sentencing hearings. It is at these hearings that the victim’s family is offered a chance to read their impact statement.
This law was spearheaded by Cheryl Korbel, the mother of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel who was shot in her home in Dovecot in August 2022 by Thomas Cashman.
Labour MP for Knowsley, Anneliese Midgely, worked alongside Miss Korbel to push for the implementation of Olivia’s law.
Adressing Parliament last year, Ms Midgely stated: “This law will compel convicted criminals to attend their sentencing hearings and ensure there are meaningful consequences if they refuse…today we make sure that choice to turn away, to hide, is no longer an option.”
Mr. Cashman refused to attend his sentencing hearing and therefore did not listen to Cheryl Korbel’s victim impact statement.
Cheryl Korbel in her victim impact statement: “My 9-year-old Liv was the light of our lives, She was a character, she was my baby… She will never get to make her holy communion, wear that prom dress, have her sweet 16th Birthday… All that promise of her future cruelly taken away. Now I have to drive to the cemetery to be close to my baby daughter.”
Olivia’s law is Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s legacy and it ensures that victims families don’t have to face the same injustice her family were exposed to.
The law gives staff powers to use reasonable force to make criminals attend their sentencing hearing. If offenders still refuse to attend they can have tine added to their sentence and privileges such as visitation rights stripped.
Ms Midgely told Parliament: “Cashman should have heard her words but he had the choice not to. This is the injustice at the heart this because Cheryl did speak, she found the strength to put into words the love she had for her daughter.”
