Rape will still carry a minimum sentence of five years

The Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC), an independent legal board, has set out new sentencing framework for a wide range of sex offences.

These include grooming a child for sex to having sex in a public toilet.

Those convicted for such sex crimes would not be eligible for the 15% reduction available for other offences.

Age factor

An SGC spokeswoman said none of the recommendations proposed in the guidelines would lead to a fall in average sentences.

The new guidelines will now go out for consultation until the end of July.

The council's advisers said the minimum term for the rape of a person over 18 should be at least five years, but also said the age of the victim was an important factor in deciding the punishment.

Sentencers are particularly aware of the psychological as well as the physical impact of these offences on victims SGC deputy chairman Sir Igor Judge

Courts should continue to treat date rape or rape within marriage as harshly as rapes carried out by strangers, the guidelines say.

The council supported an existing case law saying rape within a relationship was just as serious as other rapes.

But the guidelines did say that rapists who had been sexually familiar with a victim before the victim changed their mind should be punished less severely, and said it could be a mitigating factor in cases where the victim was aged over 16.

Some women's groups have reacted angrily to the guidelines.

Ruth Hall, of Women Against Rape, said: "They have no right to be telling men they are less culpable for rape in these circumstances."

SGC deputy chairman Sir Igor Judge said: "These guidelines emphasise the seriousness with which sexual offences should be treated by sentencing judges.

"Sentencers are particularly aware of the psychological as well as the physical impact of these offences on victims.

"Although the purpose of these guidelines is to achieve a consistent level of sentencing for the same type of offence, they cannot deal with the specific impact of each individual offence, which has to be taken into account by the sentencing judge."

'Higher sentences'

Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald, a member of the council, said: "The guidelines should not lead to any reductions in the average length of sentence imposed.

"Indeed they recommend higher sentences if aggravating circumstances - such as the extreme youth or age of a victim - apply."

The proposals are based on a review by the Sentencing Advisory Panel (SAP) two years ago.

A previous SAP paper had suggested the minimum term for rapists should be five years in jail, with aggravated offences earning a prison sentence of eight years, and multiple rapes carrying a minimum 15-year jail term.

The SAP's paper in February 2004 reviewed sentencing for all sex offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which included several new offences.

The new guidelines cut the proposed sentence for sexual grooming, such as luring a child through the internet for the purpose of sexual acts

The SAP had said the offence of "meeting a child following sexual grooming" should carry three years if the pervert intends to coerce the child into sexual activity, and five years if he intends to rape them".

The proposals now suggest the minimum should be 18 months in the case of coercing a victim aged 13 to 16 into sex, and two years when the victim was aged under 13.