Judges will be given explicit powers to order convicted prisoners to hear their sentencing, in handcuffs if necessary, in Government plans to be unveiled in November's King's Speech.
GB News can exclusively disclose a “multifaceted” initiative by Justice Secretary Alex Chalk to stop criminals copying Lucy Letby and refusing to attend sentencing or hearing impact statements from their victims.
Firstly, judges will be given explicit powers in law to order convicted criminals into court to be sentenced in person and face their victims.
Secondly, judges will be given powers to compel their attendance in court and allow prison officers to use "reasonable force" to force them to attend, including handcuffing them.
Lucy Letby's appearance whenever in court was calm and composedPAThirdly, judges will be given discretion so that they will be allowed to stop criminals using the sentencing process to mock their victim by ordering them to leave court.
In cases where a prisoner refuses to attend, judges will be allowed to ask experts to rule whether the offender has legitimate reasons.
Ministers will also look at piping in the words of the sentencing judges into cells, as had been proposed by former Justice secretary Robert Buckland on GB News last week.
Ministers want the plans to be included as amendments to a new Criminal Justice Bill which will be unveiled in the King's Speech on November 7.
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If the amendments are not allowed to be attached to the legislation by Parliamentary officials because they are out of the Bill’s scope ministers will pass a standalone bill to enact the measures.
The measures have been championed by Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, who initially tried to attach them to the Victims and Prisoners' Bill in the spring but was told he could not by officials.
This is why ministers have delayed taking any action.
One senior source in the Ministry of Justice told GB News that ministers wanted judges in England and Wales to take a more robust approach towards convicted criminals like French courts.
Criminals refusing to attend court has only really become an issue since Thomas Cashman refused to attend court for his sentencing over the murder of 9 year old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, and officials want to nip this in the bud.
The source said they was a degree of "copycattery" over Letby's actions.
Convicted serial killer Lucy Letby received a life sentence at Manchester Crown Court, with the judge stating she showed "pre-meditation, calculation and cunning" in her actions.
