00:00 Thomas Cashman was jailed for 42 years for the murder of nine-year-old Olivia
00:04 at her home in Dovecote. However, instead of facing up to the pain he'd inflicted
00:10 on her family, Cashman hid away in his cell refusing to attend his hearing at
00:15 Manchester Crown Court. That behaviour has prompted an increase in calls to make
00:20 the appearance of convicted criminals mandatory at all future sentencing
00:25 hearings.
00:26 Writing the impact statement was really hard. It wasn't, didn't take minutes. It was
00:37 days over a matter of weeks and it's important for the offenders to listen to
00:45 the pain that they've caused, the pain that is ongoing. Going to prison is
00:53 supposed to be a rehabilitation. That first port of call of rehabilitation
01:00 should be in that courtroom and standing there listening to the judge and
01:07 listening to the family's impact statement. The launch of a campaign and
01:12 government petition by local station Radio City received backing from across
01:17 the Labour Party including Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reid and London
01:23 Mayor Sadiq Khan as well as from local MPs right across the region.
01:27 When you go through a hugely dramatic a deal like Cheryl and so many of the
01:32 victims' families have, to then have to sit day after day to watch the trial of
01:38 this person that killed your loved one take place and then for them to not turn
01:42 up the one day when you have the time to tell that person the impact that that has
01:48 had and that is an important part of that process where the victims and the
01:52 families get to talk about the impact it's had on them you know and what this
01:57 means for them and the life sentence they're gonna have because their
01:59 daughter's no longer with them. The fact that somebody can take that power away
02:03 from that family and not turn up and hear that is just wrong.
02:07 They're facing the families in court won't bring back the victims of these
02:11 senseless crimes not being present when victim impact statements are read out
02:15 denies those affected a measure of closure. I think the whole point of the
02:20 face of family campaign and you know when I speak to Cheryl and others about
02:23 it it's about saying you've committed you've taken something away from me you
02:27 should listen you should listen and hear about what impact that's had on me and
02:31 the justice system is such a long and complicated system we don't make it
02:36 straightforward at all and this is one small part of it that would just give
02:40 the families that opportunity to feel like they've been heard and to feel like
02:44 their pain and their suffering has been recognized. It's also important to
02:48 remember those whose lives have been cruelly cut short by murder not for how
02:52 they died but for how they lived like Olivia who by all accounts was a chatty
02:59 lively little girl who just loved the color pink.
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