WHY ARE CHILD RAPISTS EVER FREE AGAIN? REFORM UK SAYS IT’S TIME TO END THE SCANDAL FOR GOOD. For years, convicted grooming gang offenders have walked back onto Britain’s streets after shockingly short sentences. Reform UK now says enough is enough and proposes a punishment that would change everything. The question is why this wasn’t done sooner.
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Convicted rape gang members have been let back onto Britain’s streets after just a few years in jail – which Reform called a ‘betrayal of victims’
Reform UK has pledged to introduce mandatory life sentences for convicted grooming gang rapists if it wins power.
The party’s policy chief Zia Yusuf has said offenders found guilty of raping anyone under 16 should receive whole life orders – without the chance of parole.
“For too long, Conservative and Labour Governments have failed to protect our children,” Mr Yusuf said.
“A Reform Government will introduce mandatory minimum life sentences for those who rape children. It is shameful that this is not already the law.”
Mr Yusuf went on to describe the situation as “a profound betrayal of victims and of the public’s trust”.
England and Wales currently have no minimum sentence for child sexual abuse or exploitation.
Judges currently set their own sentences, with some perpetrators receiving just a few years behind bars.
Last year, Amreaz Asghar and Zehroon Razak were convicted of raping a teenage girl in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in the late 1990s.
Asghar was handed a four-and-a-half years, while Razak was jailed for six-and-a-half years.
Reform UK has pledged to introduce mandatory life sentences for convicted grooming gang rapists
Labour’s Attorney General Lord Hermer declined to refer these sentences to the Court of Appeal – despite complaints they were unduly lenient.
Other rape gang members in Keighley had their punishments increased.
Ibrar Hussain, Imtiaz Ahmed and Fayaz Ahmed initially received between six-and-a-half and nine years for child rape offences.
Their sentences were later raised to between 10 and 11 years.
Mr Yusuf said: “It is a stain on our national conscience that grooming gangs were allowed to operate for years with impunity, and in many cases still do.”
‘It is a stain on our national conscience that grooming gangs were allowed to operate for years with impunity,’ Zia Yusuf said
He pointed to sentencing data showing that under the Tories, the typical prison term for raping a child under 13 dropped to just nine years – with some handed six-year jail spails.
Mr Yusuf then turned his fire on Labour, and how under Sir Keir Starmer, violent offenders are now being released early from prison.
Elsewhere, Reform has decried how the existing appeals process for lenient sentences takes months to complete.
The party has said its proposed mandatory minimum term would apply only to offenders aged 18 or older when the crime occurred.
Violent offenders are now being released early from prison under Sir Keir Starme
Mr Yusuf noted that mandatory minimum sentences already exist for certain offences in England and Wales.
These include three years for a third domestic burglary conviction, and seven years for a third Class A drug-trafficking offence.
Reform said it would consult on how to apply the mandatory minimum to historical offences once in Government.
But with Britain’s prisons overflowing, the party was also forced to admit its plans would see around 500 more inmates put behind bars every year – though promised to bump up prison capacity as a result.
