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Cheryl Korbel has been campaigning for ‘Olivia’s Law’ to force offenders to face justice after her daughter’s cowardly killer refused to leave his cell for his sentencing hearing
The mum of murdered Olivia Pratt-Korbel teared up as she watched Keir Starmer promise to change the law to make killers face justice.
Nine-year-old Olivia was killed by drug dealer Thomas Cashman when she was caught in a crossfire in her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, in August 2022. Her mum Cheryl Korbel has been campaigning for ‘Olivia’s Law’ to force offenders to face justice after her daughter’s cowardly killer refused to leave his cell for his sentencing hearing where he was jailed for life.
She said she is hopeful a change in the law will finally happen to ensure families are able to tell criminals “the pain and destruction” their actions have caused. The bereaved mum, who was in Parliament on Wednesday, said she was “a little shocked” when the Prime Minister welcomed her to PMQs. “I started tearing up a little bit,” she added.
Mr Starmer told MPs he will change the law so that the most serious offenders attend their sentencing hearings. Asked about the need for a change in the law, Cheryl said: “It’s incredibly important. At the end of the day, you go through a whole court process, and it’s the defendants – it’s all about them.
“So at the end of it, coming to sentencing, the last voice that you should hear should be the families or the victims. The defendants have had their chance all the way through the court case, so the families need their time at the end to put across the pain and destruction that the defendants have caused.”
She met with Mr Starmer on Tuesday where he promised her he would change the law by July. He previously met with her 17 months ago, where he vowed to make the change if he got into power. The Tories broke a promise to Cheryl that they would change the law before the election so criminals would face an extra two years in jail if they refused to face justice.
Asked how she felt about her most recent meeting with Mr Starmer, Cheryl said: “We’ve been promised things before that it’s going to go through. We’re 17 months on, but we are a little more hopeful that it’s going to go through. He mentioned it being by the summer. Our summer can go right up until the end of September. So we pushed, you know, what’s your idea of summer? And he said: ‘Well, July.’”
In a message to the PM, she added: “You can’t have words without action. So, carry on with the actions and we’ll get this change in the law done.”
The Mirror has campaigned for criminals to be forced to attend sentencing hearings. The court sessions give families and victims the chance to read statements about how they have been affected by the crimes committed. High-profile killers like nurse Lucy Letby and Jordan McSweeney, who murdered aspiring lawyer Zara Aleena as she walked home in east London, refused to leave their cells to listen to the impact of their offences.
Cheryl said she will be thinking of the parents of the three young girls murdered in the Southport stabbings ahead of vile killer Axel Rudakubana’s sentencing hearing on Thursday. The PM’s spokesman refused to comment on whether Rudakubana should attend his sentencing.
Asked if the PM was disappointed it’s taken so long to get the legislation through before a case like this, the spokesman said: “He’s spoken before about how cowardly killers who refuse to look grieving families in the eye when judges hand down their sentences deny victims and their families the opportunity to tell them the horrific ways they have destroyed their lives.
“That is why we have committed to changing the law and the King’s Speech committed to introducing the legislation in the first session and will come forward as part of the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill.” Criminals who refuse to attend their sentencing could face longer sentences, and officers will be able to use reasonable force to get them to comply, the spokesman said.