The defendant, a 49 year old woman had been convicted, the jury having rejected her plea of duress, of being party to the rape by her partner of a five month old baby girl who had been entrusted to her as a baby sitter. She had pleaded guilty to being party to taking indecent photographs of this activity. One of these photographs showed her with her tongue extended towards the baby’s vagina. She was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. Her partner had been given a life sentence with a minimum term of 5 and a half years, which had not been challenged by the Attorney General.
Held: The sentence had been lenient. Five, or even six, years imprisonment might have been expected, but having regard to double jeopardy and to the fact that the offender had been doing extremely well in prison, the court decided not to interfere. The court thought it appropriate that the offender’s sentence should be about half that of her partner, who actually committed the rape.
Citations:
[2002] 2 Cr App R (S) 84, [2002] EWCA Crim 353
Links:
Cited by:
Cited – French and Webster, Regina v (Attorney General’s Reference No 14 and No 15 of 2006) CACD 8-Jun-2006
The defendant had been convicted of repeatedly raping a 12 week old girl, and other sexual offences against young girls. After pleading guilty, the judge had passed a life sentence setting the minimum term at six years which was lower because of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Sentencing
Updated: 06 July 2022; Ref: scu.242366