Zara Aleena murder: Raab seeks to force convicts to appear at sentencing

Convicted criminals could be forced to appear in court for sentencing, the justice secretary has told Zara Aleena's family.

Dominic Raab is examining whether judges should be able to impose longer terms on those who refuse to appear.

Ms Aleena's killer Jordan McSweeney refused to attend his sentencing, something her family described as "a slap in the face".

Mr Raab told the BBC convicts attending was the "least the victims deserve".

The plans were revealed during a meeting with Ms Aleena's aunt, Farah Naz.

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Zara Aleena, 35, was attacked by Jordan McSweeney near her home in Ilford in June 2022

After the meeting, Ms Naz told the BBC it had been "a slap in the face" that McSweeney had the right not to attend the hearing.

"He needed to look at our faces and see how he hadn't just killed Zara, he had killed a whole family," she said.

Ms Aleena, 35, was killed in an attack near her home in Ilford, east London, in June last year.

McSweeney, who was jailed for 38 years for her murder, was condemned as "spineless" by Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb for failing to appear in court.

Jordan McSweeney had only recently been released from prison when he murdered Ms Aleena

Convicted criminals in other serious cases have also refused to appear.

It means they do not hear victim personal statements which are read out in court before sentencing.

Mr Raab is having discussions with officials about how to bring about the changes.

He added officials were looking at how the move could be enforced because "you could be in a situation where you're physically having to manhandle somebody out of the cell".

"I wouldn't rule that out, but fundamentally, if a perpetrator is not willing to come and face the judge... then I think we should be looking at increasing the sentence as an aggravating factor," he said.

He told the BBC making convicts appear at sentencing hearings was "the very least the victims deserve and... a basic principle of British justice".

He said he therefore wanted to "make sure courts have the power to compel someone who's been convicted of a serious crime to come and face the sentence that they hand down".

Primary school teacher Sabina Nessa was murdered in 2021 by Koci Selamaj

The family of Sabina Nessa, who was killed in a random attack in Kidbrooke, south-east London, in 2021, were also unable to face her murderer who refused to appear at his sentencing.

Her sister, Jebina Islam, said it was "outrageous" that "my sister's killer was able to decide whether or not to come to court" and had "refused to listen to our family impact via link".

She has been campaigning to make convicts appear in court.

"Me and my family will never know why he murdered my sister and this will haunt us for the rest of our lives," she added.

"No one will understand the pain we are going through each day without our amazing bright Sabina and still not knowing why he killed her."

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