Dartford MP Gareth Johnson has backed calls for legislation to force convicts to attend sentencing hearings and face victims or bereaved loved ones.

Mr Johnson spoke out in the wake of the case of child serial killer Lucy Letby, 33, the former neonatal nurse who was sentenced yesterday to life in prison, for the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of another six at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Letby refused to appear at the sentencing, in what the mother of two of her victims called “one final act of wickedness from a coward” – and Mr Johnson has joined the voices arguing she should have been forced to hear the judge’s ruling in person.

“As a nurse, Lucy Letby should have been someone the families could trust,” said the Dartford MP.

“Instead, she preyed upon the innocent in the most cruel and inexplicable fashion. Her crimes of targeting newborn babies are uniquely cruel, and she should have been at her own sentencing, if necessary by force, to face up to the enormity of her actions and understand the longstanding impact they have had.”

Mr Johnson’s statement comes nine years after he called for the same change in the law, when Colin Ash-Smith was sentenced for the brutal killing of 16-year-old Claire Tiltman in Greenhithe.

Ash-Smith was found guilty in 2014 – almost 22 years after the frenzied killing – and handed life imprisonment, but did not appear in the dock as Mr Justice Sweeney delivered the sentence.

Mr Johnson added: “He also refused to appear in the dock to hear the victim impact statements of the families and the Judge's sentencing. It is an act of complete cowardice and a final insult to the families of the victims.

“It cannot be right that a judge has no power whatsoever to bring someone to court to make them hear the consequences of their actions. The Government must change the law and bring an end to this injustice.

“I am reassured that the Prime Minister has committed to taking this forward and it will be included as part of the King's Speech in November this year.”