Plans for tougher penalties for drug rape have been welcomed by a charity which works with people who have been drugged and raped.

Home Secretary David Blunkett announced on Tuesday that anyone who gives another person drugs with intent to commit a sex crime will face a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Previously the maximum sentence available was two years, and the change signalled in the Sex Offences Bill has been welcomed.

Vera Baird, of the Drug Rape Trust in Southend, Essex, said the new penalties would send out a tough message that drugging victims would not be tolerated.

Banned drug

Ms Baird said the Bill "makes it very plain that anyone who tries to carry out this hideous, dangerous offence will get a very heavy sentence indeed".

She told BBC Essex the existing sentencing guidelines were not sufficient.

Ms Baird said: "There was an offence of administering a drug to allow intercourse before, but it carried a maximum sentence of only two years."

Substances sometimes used in drug rape cases include Rohypnol and GHB; the latter is to be banned after a recommendation last year by the Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs.

Other reforms suggested in the Sex Offences Bill include the outlaw of predatory approaches toward children via chatrooms and causing another person to perform an indecent act without consent.