An MP is calling for judges to be given the power to force convicts to face their victims, after a high-profile murderer refused to appear in court for sentencing this week.

Knife-obsessed loner Colin Ash-Smith was found guilty of the murder of 16-year-old Claire Tiltman on Thursday - almost 22 years after the frenzied killing in a Greenhithe alleyway.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday, but waived his right to appear in the dock as Mr Justice Sweeney handed it down.

Dartford MP Gareth Johnson branded the murderer's no-show "cowardly", describing it as "the final insult".

He said: "I've said for some years that I think there should be a discretion open to judges that they could actually order that a defendant be forced to be produced before the court to hear what the judge has to say on sentencing and to hear the full consequences of their actions.

"Colin Ash-Smith took a very cowardly way out by not facing the judgement he was sentenced.

"I do think there should be powers open that aren't available today for a judge in some circumstances to say look, we bring that person up, whether they want to come up or not.

"It's something governments need to think about for the future.

"It just seems unjust that a judge has no power whatsover to bring someone to court to make them hear the consequences of their actions.

"It seems almost the final insult to the victims of crime when a defendant refuses even to come to the dock to hear what's going to happen to them."

Former milkman Ash-Smith must serve a minimum of 21 years behind bars for the brutal, premeditated killing, which he carried out because of the "feeling of power" it gave him.

Passing the sentence, Mr Justice Sweeney said: "You not only ended Claire's young life, which was so full of promise, but also caused unbearable grief and upset to her family and friends."