There is no way Thomas Cashman can ever make amends for the living nightmare he has inflicted on Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s family.
As her courageous mum Cheryl explained on Monday, their life sentence began the day he murdered the nine-year-old, and will never end. But the absolute least he could have done was show up to court for his own sentencing, instead of joining the list of spineless killers who instead cowered in their cells.
Of course, prisoners are entitled to basic human rights, but this isn’t one of them. Not being present in court for sentencing should simply not be an option. It isn’t an RSVP situation, a garden party they can decide whether they fancy attending or not, it’s justice being served for a crime they have now been proven guilty of.
Presumably none of these cowards were that keen to be arrested either, but police managed to manhandle them into the back of their vans – they should be handcuffed and similarly forced to come and face the innocent families they’ve devastated. When you are accused of a crime – never mind convicted of one – the entire court process is not voluntary, it’s compulsory.
By staying put, Cashman got away with not listening to any victim impact statements – the one chance the irrevocably shattered family have to be allowed to explain how they feel, to be heard, in their own words.
As the aunt of Zara Aleena, whose killer also swerved his sentencing, said: “As a result, the whole legal process felt incomplete.” Farah Naz added: “We wanted to see the humanity… it was an opportunity for him to be human.”
Not having to look their victim’s families in the eye, or see the pain forever etched on their faces, is something the families themselves don’t have the luxury of avoiding.
From now on, every time they look in the mirror, or at each other, that is what they will see. Even as time passes, and they hopefully begin to heal and somehow manage to carry on with their lives, it will never fully leave them.
They are forever changed, in the worst way imaginable.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has discussed making it illegal for criminals not to attend sentencing, or the idea of judges giving longer terms to those who refuse to appear. It’s hard to see how adding a few years to a decades-long life sentence would make any difference – surely it’s a drop in the ocean at that point.
Perhaps what might be more persuasive would be a new plan – if you don’t come to court, your cell is wallpapered floor to ceiling with photographs of your victim’s families devastated faces, and recordings of their impact statements are played on a loop for five hours a day, every single day of your sentence.
Then you will be unable to escape the consequences of your actions, just like them.
