Aunt of Zara Aleena says law should ‘ensure murderers face sentencing’ in court
The Government has announced plans to legally compel criminals to appear in the dock when they are sentenced.
The aunt of murdered law graduate Zara Aleena has called for the justice system to “ensure murderers face their sentencing” after triple killer Kyle Clifford refused to attend his sentence hearing for the murders of Louise, Hannah and Carol Hunt.
On Monday, Clifford was handed a whole-life order for the murders of Louise, 25, Hannah, 28, and their mother Carol, 61, the wife of BBC racing commentator John Hunt, the false imprisonment and rape of Louise, and possession of a crossbow and knife.
He became the latest killer to refuse to attend his sentence hearing as Cambridge Crown Court was told he had refused to leave his cell at HMP Belmarsh.
Farah Naz, the aunt of Ms Aleena, whose killer, Jordan McSweeney, also failed to appear in court to hear his life sentence handed down, told BBC Radio 4’s Today radio programme on Wednesday that “legal levers” should be used to ensure perpetrators “face that moment of reckoning” in court.
Speaking of the day McSweeney refused to appear in court, Ms Naz said: “It did feel like one more injustice.
“You know, he took Zara’s life, and he took away our chance to see him face what he’d done, and it appeared as if he was above, just as untouchable, and we were left with an empty dock where accountability should have been.
“The process felt incomplete.”
The Government has previously announced plans to empower judges to compel criminals to appear in the dock when they are sentenced.
The change in the law is expected to be made in the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill, which will be laid in Parliament in the next few months.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer promised to carry on the pledge to change the law, first made by his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, when he met the mother of murdered nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel earlier this year.
The judge in Clifford’s case, Mr Justice Joel Bennathan, had previously told the court he had considered forcing the killer into a room with a video-link at Belmarsh, but became concerned that he would use the opportunity to disrupt the proceedings.
Ms Naz told the BBC: “Of course, we should avoid disruption in the process, because that also harms victims’ families if legal processes are slowed down.
“The courtroom needs to remain a dignified process.
“We need it not to be dragging people in, not to give a killer a chance to have their last say.
“But we can use legal levers to ensure the murderer faces their sentencing and faces that moment of reckoning.
“It shouldn’t be a choice, but neither should it be forced.”
Ms Aleena, 35, was sexually assaulted and murdered as she walked home from a night out in Ilford in east London in 2022.
Her aunt told the BBC a change in the law to compel offenders to appear in the dock when they are sentenced could also reinforce public confidence in the justice system.
Ms Naz said: “Of course, we have no interest in him (McSweeney) and giving him any fame or attention.
“But the legal process is very… I think it’s very basically human: someone has done you wrong, and you need to see things put right.
“And I think seeing him in the dark, facing the judge when his sentence is passed, that moment offers closure to victims.
“I can’t speak for everybody, but I think it also offers public confidence in the justice system.
“Society needs to see that justice is being seen and not just served.”
