Double Standards, Ray Teret, Indecent Assault and Bending the Rules

 

 

 

On December 11 2014, Ray Teret was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for his catalogue of crimes against girls. A sentence well justified.

 

The sentencing remarks by Mr Justice Baker are interesting reading, when comparing them against the petition I started last year.

 

Reading through them, it is apparent that double standards have been applied in this case, when compared to other cases which have involved the same crime.

 

According to Justice Baker here , five out of the eleven victims, aged between thirteen and fifteen "consented" to their abuse (yes I know, AoC is sixteen and to imply consent does not make sense).

 

The paragraphs that interest me in Justice Baker's comments are below, and I have highlighted the "consensual" crimes:

 

"The jury convicted you of having sexually abused 11 different girls during this period
of time, 6 of whom you raped and 5 of whom were, as I have said, so awed by your
celebrity status that they consented to having sexual intercourse with you. Some of
those you raped were forcibly penetrated by you, causing them acute pain and distress,
whilst you ejaculated inside them. However it is clear that all of these girls were used
by you for your own sexual gratification, which in some cases was enhanced by you
encouraging them to masturbate you both manually and orally. In my judgement it is
no mere coincidence that each of these girls was between 13 – 15 years of age when
you abused them in this manner, as I am sure that, despite your protestations to the
contrary, you have a sexual interest in girls of that age."

 

"At the time of the commission of the offences of indecent assault the maximum
sentence for such offences was 2 years’ custody. This court remains bound by that
restriction. Thus on counts 1, 14, 25 31 and 35 there will be sentences of 18 months’
imprisonment, and on counts 6, 8, 18, 22, 23 and 24 there will be sentences of 12
months’ imprisonment. However on each of the convictions for rape, namely counts
5, 7, 9, 10, 16, 19, and 27 there will be sentences of 25 years’ imprisonment. All of
those sentences will run concurrently with each other making a total custodial sentence
of 25 years."

 

I say "Interesting" deliberately, because as we know, as detailed in my petition here, and previous posts, the crime of "Intercourse with a girl aged between 13 and 16" (note "intercourse", not "rape -, thus implying ostensible consent), carried with it a disclosure timescale of 12 months. Both the MoJ and CPS have over the last few months, stuck to their guns and stated repeatedly to me that in the UK, crimes cannot be "retroactively" amended and therefore any victim of this crime, who has disclosed after the 12 months have passed (ie anyone since 2005, as this timescale was removed in 2004) it is a matter of "tough luck".

 

Furthermore, the crime cannot be changed to "indecent assault", as detailed here ("A prosecution for an offence committed under section 6 (or an attempt to commit that offence) must be commenced within 12 months of the alleged offence. The House of Lords has ruled that a charge of indecent assault cannot be used to bypass the time limit. See R v J [2004] UKHL 42").

 

So, the question is, how have potentially hundreds of victims been so catastrophically failed by the "injustice system", but the Law can seemingly be bent for a high profile case such as this?

 

Was Justice Baker unaware of the time limit?

 

Did Justice Baker deliberately change the crime to "Indecent Assault" from the start, thus eliminating the 12 months?

 

Or, more likely (in my opinion), did the rules get "bent" as this, being Saville related, there had to be a desirable outcome, whatever the path of getting it?

 

Whatever the reason is, this is a totally unacceptable flouting of the Law to fit the crime, and this makes it ten times worse for all the victims of the same crime, who have been so badly let down.

 

 



Groomed for sex at 13 - but the law is powerless to do anything.

My dad’s pal groomed me for sex at 13 - but the law is powerless to touch him

 

 

 

 

 

"A woman who was 13 when she was groomed and sexually abused by a man twice her age had her case dropped because a controversial legal ­loophole allowed her attacker to go free.

Today, she tells her harrowing story of how the six-month relationship “ruined her life”.

The woman’s happy family life was destroyed and she was brought up in care, passed around by social services.

But when the victim realised she was abused and plucked up the courage to seek justice against the man she once trusted, she was told by the Crown Prosecution Service he could not be charged.

A letter from a senior prosecutor, seen by the Mirror, states: “If the law was different, I would have charged [Mr X] with having unlawful sexual intercourse.”

Sexual offence laws were changed in 2004 so an adult who had sex with a child under 16 could be ­prosecuted with no time limit attached.

But charges cannot be brought against anyone for “consensual” sex with a child under 16 if it happened before 2004 and no complaint is made within a year."

 

Appalling.

 

Yet another failing of victims, by an out of date law that makes no sense at all.

 

Firstly children cannot consent - that is why we have an age of consent (quite obvious really to the majority of the population).

 

Secondly, what idiot drew up this previous Law, that included a "one year timescale" to report "ostensible" consent for 13 to 15 years old? Who could consider that there would be any benefit in doing this at the time? What about victims who didn't disclose until after a year after "ostensibly" consenting to being groomed and abused by an adult?

 

Thirdly, what happens now? Another way to stop victims coming forward, if they think their abuser may argue this "consent", therefore making their disclosures "null and void"

 

What is the point of reporting abuse that happened prior to 2004, if this is the end result?

 

According to the Mirror article, "It is thought to have allowed hundreds of Britain’s worst abusers to walk free as the police are left powerless to charge them". Is this good enough? Not in the slightest. As I said firstly, Appalling!

 

Proof of this Law is in the enclosed two links. In this link here the section that refers to this offence is article 6 "Intercourse with girl between thirteen and sixteen.". Sentencing guidelines relating to this can be found here, and this states "A prosecution for an offence committed under section 6 (or an attempt to commit that offence) must be commenced within 12 months of the alleged offence".

 

As-such, I have created a petition on direct.gov to get this one year timescale removed for any future victims that come forward and disclose this type of grooming & rape. Why should victims of this crime, have their cases thrown out because of this unnecessary loophole? Why should some victims be allowed their day in court, and to see their suffering and abuse be dealt with (and hopefully with fair justice), whilst others have their abuse dismissed because of this unjust loophole from 10 years ago?

 

Please sign this and share it - 100,000 sigs needed before this can be considered for debate in the House of Commons - end date 10 June 2015. Thank you.

 

Petition