Anger as violent thugs and rapists escape jail time

Courts ‘letting down’ victims of crime.

One third of thugs found guilty of the most horrific attacks are let off with a slap on the wrist it has been revealed.

Campaigners have accused courts of letting down victims by failing to jail thousands of thugs who denied their offences in court and forced their victim to relive their horror in a trial.

A Sunday Post investigation has revealed last year 5,679 yobs were found guilty of grievous bodily harm (GBH) after a trial yet 1,903 were not jailed.

The news comes just days after thug David Greaves, 50, sauntered out of court with a suspended sentence for biting off a man’s tongue.

Greaves did admit GBH with intent which carries a maximum life sentence but was given a two-year suspended term following the attack in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.

He celebrated outside Teesside Crown Court last week by punching the air and sticking his tongue out, mocking his victim, John Dufton, 33.

Darlington MP Jenny Chapman uncovered the statistics which also revealed half of the 2,324 predators found guilty of sexual assault were not jailed and 67 of the 1,145 found guilty of rape avoided prison.

She blasted: “The numbers of offenders being spared jail after serious, violent and sexual assaults has increased in the past two years.

“This is a deeply worrying trend that is moving in the wrong direction. For every one of these sentences there is a victim who, after finding the courage to report an attack, has not seen their attacker taken off the street.

“At the same time as the Government is having to review the use of cautions for violent crimes, this does little to encourage victims’ trust in the system.

“The Government cannot expect to build public confidence in community sentences if they are used inappropriately, and handed out to dangerous and violent offenders.”

Dianne Ludlow, of sexual abuse charity One In Four said non-custodial sentences for rape were a particular concern.

She said: “Rape is one of the most serious crimes that can be perpetrated against a person, and one which will very often leave life-long emotional scars.

“For a victim of this type of heinous crime to report it, and endure the lengthy process of investigation and gruelling experience of a trial requires amazing courage and strength.

“A convicted rapist who has not only committed the crime, but also denied it, so putting the victim through a further ordeal, in essence, walks free from the court to continue their life with some lesser sanction.

“It is a slap in the face to the victims of these specific cases who have a legitimate expectation of an appropriate sentence fitting the crime.”

Justice Minister Jeremy Wright said: “Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary as only they have the full circumstances of the crime in front of them.

“The courts have at their disposal tough penalties and people who commit such serious crimes are now more likely to be convicted and sent to prison for longer than they were a decade ago.”