Families who lost loved ones in the Manchester Arena bombing have joined growing calls for the most serious criminals to be forced to attend sentencing hearings.
They spoke out a day after killer nurse Lucy Letby refused to leave her holding cell at Manchester Crown Court and was allowed to snub her sentencing hearing.
It meant the defendant was not in the dock as gut-wrenching victim personal statements were read out and when the judge, Mr Justice Goss, handed out a whole life term, meaning Letby will never be released from prison for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Join our WhatsAp p Top Stories and Breaking News group by clicking this link. For victims of the Arena bombing in 2017 - in which 22 innocents were killed by suicide bomber Hashem Abedi - it was a familiar story.
In 2020, Abedi's brother and accomplice Hashem also refused to leave his cell when he was handed a minimum 55 year jail sentence at the Old Bailey for helping his sibling prepare for the attack.
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