Over 1,500 sex offenders spared jail when first convicted have then committed similar crimes
MORE than 1,500 sex offenders who were spared jail when first convicted have gone on to commit similar crimes over the past five years.
They have been involved in rapes, sexual assaults and child abuse since being reprieved by the courts.
There have been 1,507 offenders, who did not go to jail for their first offence, being sentenced for a sex crime.
In the past year, the figure was 264 — including 22 who were later sentenced for rape and 56 for sexual assaults.
Another 69 were convicted for child abuse, five for voyeurism and 66 for indecent exposure.
The Ministry of Justice figures — revealed to The Sun on Sunday under the Freedom of Information Act — also show the first offences they were convicted of.
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In the past year, the reoffenders include two who dodged jail for child rape offences, 80 who had sexually assaulted women and two who had been found guilty of Peeping Tom offences.
Cases include that of Rhys Miller-Offiong, who was given a suspended sentence in 2017 for grooming a girl under 16 to engage in sexual activity. Three months later, he raped a woman — for which he got 15 years.
Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “Our criminal justice system is catastrophically broken and this is a massive issue for women’s rights.”
The MoJ said: “New laws will keep serious sex offenders in jail for longer and subject to tougher management on release.”
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