Judge lets teen sex abuser walk free

6:11am Monday 21st January 2008

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Controversial Judge Julian Hall was condemned last night after he let a paedophile walk free from court.

Judge Hall, criticised last year for saying a 10-year-old rape victim dressed provocatively, gave a Berinsfield teenager three years' probation for molesting a five-year-old girl.

The 17-year-old - who Judge Hall banned the Oxford Mail from naming - had also abused a seven-year-old boy.

But the judge said the teenage abuser was "not dangerous".

The mother of the five-year-old victim had to be led out of Oxford Crown Court after Judge Hall passed the sentence, which also included a ban on the teen from having any contact with children in online chatrooms and via his mobile phone.

He told the defendant he must also attend courses to sort out his attitude to sex and children.

Relatives of the victim last night condemned the sentences handed down by the judge.

Last year, Judge Hall sent Blackbird Leys window cleaner Keith Fenn to prison for just two years after he raped a 10-year-old.

He also told a 71-year-old man who sexually abused a six-year-old to compensate her with money for a new bike.

This sentencing history was described by the five-year-old victim's sister as an "atrocity."

The 26-year-old said: "How can you justify not sending these people to prison?

"I am not saying he should not be a judge, but I do not think he takes the families' feelings into account - or the victims'."

She added: "If we had had another judge, I do not think he would have been so lenient.

"The care of my sister should be the utmost importance, but the judge has chosen to look after him and not her.

"This has ripped us apart. My sister has not spoken to anybody about it."

Judge Hall told lawyers in court: "At the moment, the defendant is probably not dangerous."

The girl's mother, who was sitting in the public gallery, shouted out: "Tell that to my daughter!"

Judge Hall told the teenager: "What you did was dreadful and it is the sort of behaviour which affects people rather badly and for a long time.

"You are going to have to attend courses to help you sort out your attitude to sex and children younger than you."

He granted the teenager anonymity and said that he was too young to be identified publicly for his crimes.