So Dominic Raab has resigned, producing one of the least apologetic apologies ever written.
Accused of bullying Whitehall officials, the outgoing Deputy PM and Justice Secretary said he was 'genuinely sorry for any unintended stress of offence that any officials felt as a result of the pace, standards and challenge' that he brought to the Ministry of Justice. Not exactly heartfelt stuff.
Former defence minister Alex Chalk will replace Mr Raab as Justice Secretary will immediately face a host of major challenges that need to be gripped quickly. The entire system is in crisis, with a huge backlog in the courts, meaning huge numbers of people facing difficult and sometimes debilitating waits for justice. Overcrowding in prisons is another problem that needs solving.
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These are existential issues for the Department of Justice and its new Secretary of State and they will not be solved quickly. But there is one action that could hopefully be taken fairly quickly to address a loophole in current legislation that allows cowardly criminals to inflict more pain on those they have wronged.
Before he resigned, pressure was mounting on Mr Raab to take action to change the law so that criminals like Thomas Cashman cannot hide away from their sentencing hearings without further punishment.
After Cashman was found guilty of the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Dovecot last summer, he refused to come and face the judge - and more importantly Olivia's family - as his 42-year sentence was delivered.
Speaking about that decision, Olivia's mum Cheryl said: "We were dragged right through that court case when we didn’t need to be. If he’d owned it from the beginning, we wouldn’t have had to be there. He was in that dock right through the trial and on the last day he said ‘I’m not going up’. It’s not fair.
“Why should we go through all that and then he gets the option of not being there? It’s like a kick in the teeth. He’s just a coward – and that’s being polite. I’d support a law that would force criminals to show up for sentencing."
This is something the Labour Party and its leader believe could be resolved fairly easily. Backing the ECHO's campaign, Sir Keir Starmer said: "“The unimaginable agony that Olivia’s family now carry can’t be erased. But we can honour Olivia’s memory, and her family’s courage, by establishing a change in the law.
“While the family bravely went to court for Olivia, and for justice, her killer was allowed to hide away. Refusing to face his punishment, he cowardly whimpered away in a cell.
“That this has been allowed is a shameful gap in the system and one I’m determined to see closed.
“As Director of Public Prosecutions I saw the importance of victims and their families being able to face their perpetrators. It brings an element of closure, and gives victims of crime confidence that if they come forward the system will work wholly and fairly for them. Victims must be at the heart of our justice system.
“For Olivia, her mum, her family, and for all victims, who deserve nothing less than full justice, I stand squarely behind the Echo’s campaign for a change in the law.”
Before he left the government, Dominic Raab said he was committed to changing the law to ensure offenders are forced to face the consequences of their actions. His replacement now needs to turn those words into action - and quickly.
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