A three-year community order with a supervision requirement imposed on a 19-year-old man for meeting a child following sexual grooming, assaulting a child under 13 by penetration, and attempted rape of a child under 13 was unduly lenient and was replaced with a sentence of two years' imprisonment. Although the 11-year-old victim had consented to the offences, the law existed to protect children from themselves and a non-custodial sentence would be appropriate only in rare cases.
CA (Crim Div) (Sir Igor Judge (President QB), Simon J, Akenhead J)
31/07/2008