Legal crisis erupts over paedophile sentencing

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Legal crisis erupts over paedophile sentencing
by Mark Townsend and Jamie Doward
The Observer
09 Jul 2006

LORD GOLDSMITH, the Attorney General, is expected to spark a major new row between politicians and judges by rejecting calls to refer the case of Craig Sweeney, a paedophile who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a three-year-old girl, to the Court of Appeal.

The decision not to refer the highprofile case of Sweeney, 24, to the higher court will represent an embarrassing rebuke to the Home Secretary, John Reid. Last month Reid wrote to Goldsmith claiming the minimum five years and 108 days’ sentence handed down to Sweeney was ‘unduly lenient’ and should be reconsidered by the Court of Appeal.

His request for the sentence to be referred drew support from the public and media and was defended by Downing Street, who said Reid was ‘rightly articulating’ public concern . But the Home Secretary’s intervention antagonised judges and prompted a national debate on sentencing.

The Attorney General is now expected to tell parliament the tariff handed down at Cardiff Crown Court by Judge John Griffith Williams was within the sentencing guidelines and must therefore remain... read more...