Merseyside's Police Commissioner has joined calls for new laws to force cowardly criminals like Thomas Cashman to attend sentencing hearings and protect families from the 'ultimate insult' in court.
Emily Spurrell, the Police and Crime Commissioner for the region is writing to Justice Secretary Dominic Raab to urge him to accelerate any intention he has to alter the law to prevent 'despicable criminals' like Thomas Cashman from avoiding being present as judges pass sentence.
Last week the ECHO called for a change in the law after Cashman hid away from the family of his murder victim Olivia Pratt-Korbel. He refused to enter court to hear the judge deliver his 42-year sentence for killing the nine-year-old in Dovecot last summer.