Families want killers forced into dock for justice

Olivia Pratt-Korbel, nine, was murdered by Thomas Cashman in August 2022

The mother of a nine-year-old girl who was fatally shot in her own home by a gunman chasing a rival drug dealer will be in the House of Commons later to press for tougher penalties for criminals who skip their sentencing hearing.

Olivia Pratt-Korbel was murdered by Thomas Cashman in the Dovecot area of Liverpool on 22 August 2022.

Cashman refused to attend court for his sentencing hearing in April 2023, prompting vociferous calls for a change in the law.

Olivia's mother, Cheryl Korbel, wants offenders to be forced into the dock.

'Incredibly important'

Knowsley MP Anneliese Midgley will tell the House of Commons about the anguish caused to victims' families by criminals not showing up to face their punishment.

"Cheryl never got the opportunity to read out that impact statement and look Cashman in the eye," said the Labour MP.

Midgley said the draft new law, which will have its second reading in Parliament later, "begins to put victims at the heart of [justice] rather than giving the agency to the criminal".

Of Cashman, she said: "He could choose to be a coward and hide in his cell.

"Nothing will bring back their baby Olivia and the life she would have had but it does give some agency to the victim rather than the choice to the criminal."

Midgley said the Victims and Courts Bill was "incredibly important for the family".

"It's incredible that, instead of collapsing under the weight of their grief, they have got the resolve and decided to campaign so that no other family would have to go through what they have been through," she added.

"It is a crime that shook the city and when they walked into my surgery last August I was truly taken aback that this was not [already] law.

"Today is so important and I'm sure it is something that the general public will get behind."