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Lucy Letby is “cowardly” for missing her sentencing hearing, the prime minister has said, adding that the government is “looking at” changing the law.

Letby was last week convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to end the lives of six others while working as a neonatal nurse.

She did not appear in the courtroom today, with the judge set to outline how long she will spend in prison.

Lucy Letby latest: ‘Sadistic’ Letby refusing to leave cells

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Letby sentencing: Van arrives at court

During his trial, Thomas Cashman, the killer of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, did not attend court at points and did not turn up to his sentencing.

Judges have the discretion to compel people to appear before them for sentencing – however, it remains up to prison governors to actually execute this order as it would be their staff who would have to force someone from their cell.

An extra two years can be added to someone’s sentence if they refuse to attend the court.

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Lucy Letby

Rishi Sunak said: “The first thing is to extend my sympathies to everyone affected by this.

“I think, like everyone reading about this, it’s just shocking and harrowing.

“Now, I think it’s cowardly that people who commit such horrendous crimes do not face their victims and hear firsthand the impact that their crimes have had on them and their families and loved ones.

“We are looking and have been at changing the law to make sure that that happens, and that’s something that we’ll bring forward in due course.”

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to close the “shamefully exploited loophole” which lets convicts miss their time in the dock.

The guidelines were laid out by the Crown Prosecution Service, which Sir Keir would have overseen as director of public prosecutions.

It is not uncommon for people to refuse to leave their cells or report as sick on the date of hearings – even when they are dialing into proceedings virtually from the prison.

Read more:
Bereaved demand new law to force sentencing appearance
Who is Lucy Letby?
The psychology behind healthcare murderers

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Letby sentencing no-show ‘disgusting’

Sir Keir tweeted: “As director of public prosecutions, I saw how crucial it is for victims and their families that perpetrators appear in court.

“That criminals can cowardly hide away is a shamefully exploited loophole, and one Labour will close. Victims must be at the heart of our justice system.”

Minister for Children Claire Coutinho told Sky News “more law is probably required”.

“The justice secretary [Alex Chalk] said he’s very committed to making sure these laws are in place,” she added.

“I think we can all say that these crimes have been some of the most sickening that I’ve seen in my entire lifetime and it’s really important that victims have that moment in court with the perpetrator there and the perpetrator has to face that moment of justice.”

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Labour vows to end sentencing loophole

Pressed on why additional laws are needed, given the powers judges already have, the minister said: “I think there are some changes that it sounds like are needed as well to make sure that in every instance the perpetrator has to go to court.”

Ms Coutinho added that, if Letby gets a whole-life order, adding two years to her sentence for not appearing “might not be enough of an incentive”.

Some in government went further, with one source saying that if Letby requires “lawful enforcement” to be in court, then “so be it”.

“If she continues to refuse that will only strengthen our resolve to change the law as soon as we can,” they added.

Labour has claimed a “number of things” could be done to compel people to attend sentencing.

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Shadow Justice Secretary Ellie Reeves told Sky News: “You could look at things like prison privileges for example… and one of the suggestions we’ve heard is to have the sentencing live-streamed into someone’s cell.”

She said the government had “failed to act” – which will likely lead to Letby not attending court today.

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No 10 backs Chancellor Rachel Reeves and says she ‘is going nowhere’ after tearful appearance in Commons

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No 10 backs Chancellor Rachel Reeves and says she 'is going nowhere' after tearful appearance in Commons

Rachel Reeves has not offered her resignation and is “going nowhere”, Downing Street has said, following her tearful appearance in the House of Commons.

A Number 10 spokesperson said the chancellor had the “full backing” of Sir Keir Starmer, despite Ms Reeves looking visibly upset during Prime Minister’s Questions.

Politics latest: ‘A moment of intense peril’ for PM

A spokesperson for the chancellor later clarified that Ms Reeves had been affected by a “personal matter” and would be working out of Downing Street this afternoon.

Politics latest: Reeves looks visibly upset in Commons

UK government bond prices fell by the most since October 2022, and the pound tumbled after Ms Reeves’s Commons appearance, while the yield on the 10-year government bond, or gilt, rose as much as 22 basis points at one point to around 4.68%.

Downing Street’s insistence came despite Sir Keir refusing to guarantee that Ms Reeves would stay as chancellor until the next election following the fallout from the government’s recent welfare U-turn.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded the chancellor the “human shield” for the prime minister’s “incompetence” just hours after he was forced to perform a humiliating U-turn over his controversial welfare bill.

Emotional Reeves a painful watch – and reminder of tough decisions ahead

It is hard to think of a PMQs like it – it was a painful watch.

The prime minister battled on, his tone assured, even if his actual words were not always convincing.

But it was the chancellor next to him that attracted the most attention.

Rachel Reeves looked visibly upset.

It is hard to know for sure right now what was going on behind the scenes, the reasons – predictable or otherwise – why she appeared to be emotional, but it was noticeable and it was difficult to watch.

To read more of Ali Fortescue’s analysis, click here

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Badenoch said: “This man has forgotten that his welfare bill was there to plug a black hole created by the chancellor. Instead they’re creating new ones.”

Turning to the chancellor, the Tory leader added: “[She] is pointing at me – she looks absolutely miserable.

“Labour MPs are going on the record saying that the chancellor is toast, and the reality is that she is a human shield for his incompetence. In January, he said that she would be in post until the next election. Will she really?”

Not fully answering the question, the prime minister replied: “[Ms Badenoch] certainly won’t.

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Welfare vote ‘a blow to the prime minister’

“I have to say, I’m always cheered up when she asks me questions or responds to a statement because she always makes a complete mess of it and shows just how unserious and irrelevant they are.”

Mrs Badenoch interjected: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

The prime minister’s watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill, aimed at saving £5bn, was backed by a majority of 75 in a tense vote on Tuesday evening.

A total of 49 Labour MPs voted against the bill – the largest rebellion in a prime minister’s first year in office since 47 MPs voted against Tony Blair’s Lone Parent benefit in 1997, according to Professor Phil Cowley from Queen Mary University.

After multiple concessions made due to threats of a Labour rebellion, many MPs questioned what they were voting for as the bill had been severely stripped down.

They ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to Universal Credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.

Ms Badenoch said the climbdown was proof that Sir Keir was “too weak to get anything done”.

Read more:
The PM faced down his party on welfare and lost
Labour welfare cuts ‘Dickensian’, says rebel MP

Ms Reeves has also borne a lot of the criticism over the handling of the vote, with some MPs believing that her strict approach to fiscal rules has meant she has approached the ballooning welfare bill from the standpoint of trying to make savings, rather than getting people into work.

Experts have now warned that the welfare U-turn, on top of reversing the cut to winter fuel, means that tax rises in the autumn are more likely – with Ms Reeves now needing to find £5bn to make up for the policy U-turns.

Asked by Ms Badenoch whether he could rule out further tax rises – something Labour promised it would not do on working people in its manifesto – Sir Keir said: “She knows that no prime minister or chancellor ever stands at the despatch box and writes budgets in the future.

“But she talks about growth, for 14 years we had stagnation, and that is what caused the problem.”

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Brazil’s 17.5% crypto tax: How the new rules hurt small investors most

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Brazil’s 17.5% crypto tax: How the new rules hurt small investors most

Brazil’s 17.5% crypto tax: How the new rules hurt small investors most

Brazil’s new 17.5% flat crypto tax replaces previous exemptions and now applies to all digital asset gains.

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Bybit, OKX expand crypto services in Europe under MiCA

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Bybit, OKX expand crypto services in Europe under MiCA

Bybit, OKX expand crypto services in Europe under MiCA

Bybit and OKX have both launched MiCA-compliant crypto exchanges in the EU, marking a significant push into Europe’s newly unified regulatory landscape.

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