Manchester Arena survivor backs 'Face The Family' campaign
Martin Hibbert is supporting a campaign for offenders to have to appear in court for sentencing
Last updated 25th Aug 2023
A survivor of the Manchester Arena terror attack is backing a campaign calling for a change in law to compel offenders to appear in court for sentencing.
Martin Hibbert suffered life-changing injuries in a suicide attack at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on May 22 2017, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds more.
The 'Face The Family' campaign launched after the murderer of 9-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel refused to come up from the cells for his sentencing hearing last week.
He was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 42 years in his absence.
Olivia's killer is not the first offender to deprive his victim's family of the opportunity to tell him the pain he's caused, with others having spoken out previously.
Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, refused to appear in court back in 2020.
Backing our campaign, Martin said: "To go through that process, and pluck up the courage and confidence to go 'do you know what? I'm going to go down to London, I'm going to sit there when he's given the sentence, I'm going to look him in the eye and show him that terrorism doesn't win.' So to have that taken away from me, it almost felt like another slap in the face and that he'd won.
"They can do those crimes, but they're cowards, spineless. They don't even have the guts to sit there and take it, in terms of what they've done.
"It just makes a mockery of our justice system. One of the best justice systems in the world, yet we give criminals on the day of reckoning, a choice of whether they stand in front of the judge and the jury."
What is the petition calling for?
We're calling for the government to introduce new laws which order an offender to be present in court for sentencing or face further punishment.
Following a number of high-profile cases where serious criminal offenders refused to be in the dock when their sentence is passed down, we are petitioning for a change in the law so they can be ordered to appear.
We want prison and court staff to be given powers to use reasonable force to get offenders into the dock - as they do to transfer them from a court to prison.
Why are there calls for this?
Families say they are currently being deprived the opportunity of gaining full closure and offenders have the power to deny them that.
They are calling for a shift in the law so that it empowers victims families and gives them every chance to witness justice be delivered.
When and how can I sign the petition?
You can sign the petition now by clicking here