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Pervert's sentence to face review
ANOTHER sentencing decision on a paedophile by Oxford judge Julian Hall is being taken to the Court of Appeal.
The court has been asked to reconsider a three-year-supervision order Judge Hall handed to a child molester in January, by the Solicitor General on the grounds the sentence was unduly lenient.
It is the second time the judge has seen a sentence he passed to a sex offender referred to the court in less than a year.
In October, the court ruled that window cleaner Keith Fenn, who raped a ten-year-old girl, should serve four years - double the sentence originally handed to him by Judge Hall.
In the latest case, a 17-year-old - who The Herald was banned from naming - walked free from court after abusing two young children after Judge Hall said he was not dangerous.
Solicitor General Vera Baird approached the court to review the latest sentence after she was contacted by a relative of the paedophile's victims and Phoenix Advocates, the child protection group run by Sara Payne, mother of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne.
Ms Baird, one of the Government's chief legal advisors, is waiting for a date for a hearing, during which she will argue that the 17-year-old paedophile should have his punishment increased for the attacks on a boy and a girl.
The teenager was given a three-year-supervision order and was banned from contacting children by text message, telephone or the Internet for ten years and ordered to sign the sex offenders' register.
He was also banned from living in any property in which children stay overnight and is not allowed to associate with any child under 16 who is not in the presence of a parent or a guardian.
Originally from Berinsfield, it is believed he lives in Oxford.
The sister of one of the victims said the youth deserved three years in jail for his crimes.
She said: "I was gutted when I heard the sentence. I lost all faith in the prosecution service. It was ridiculous.
"The hardest thing to do was explaining to my sister why he did not go to prison for what he did to her. Judge Julian Hall cannot for one minute justify his reasoning for it.
"How can you not give him a custodial sentence? I feel relieved it has been recognised it is a joke of a sentence."
A spokesman for the Judicial Communications Office, which represents Judge Hall, said: "From time to time sentencing decisions are referred to the Court of Appeal for them to reconsider, if they are wrong they are corrected.
"This process shows the strength of the system which provides a proper mechanism for review both of unduly lenient sentences and those which defendants argue are excessive."
8:06am Thursday 27th March 2008
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