at the risk of sounding a bit Daily Mail-ish, I really don't think the sentences for this appalling attack on a young women with special needs are long enough...

[edam]

WARNING this is distressing Saw previous coverage of the trial - I'm amazed the rapists have only got six to nine years.

Seems to be this is about as serious a crime as you can get, short of murder. So why are the sentences less than the ones I see reported for armed robbery, for instance? Do we value victims of violence less than cold hard cash?

Just hope the poor girl somehow finds a way to live a happy life despite her injuries and trauma.

Have copied this in the legal section to ask if someone could write an appropriate letter we could all copy and send to the Attorney General. Thought we could then put a thread with a letter for people to easily copy in Chat, In the News and anywhere else.

can't we all just file a huge lawsuit and some how manage to get these men court ordered for institutionalization at the end of their sentences?

what they did sound like the war crimes of Bosnia

Thanks for doing that, ecmr! I too intend to write to various authorities, but would appreciate a 'proper' template in order to do so most effectively.

I am so saddened and incensed by the sentence these men received. It is so hideously wrong on so many levels:

• it sends out the message that gang rape is no worse than individual rape. While I absolutely do not want to diminish the severity and horror of individual rape (which, IMO, commands a light enough sentence as it is), surely gang rape is a worse crime?

• it does not seem to have taken the girl's SN into account at all. I agree with a previous poster who argued that they should have been on trial for raping a 9 year old.

• the shocking and excruciating physical suffering they inflicted on the girl seems not to have been punished at all! The extent of her injuries is so horrifying; I cannot believe that men who would do this get so little time in jail

• it will not encourage the community (which was undoubtedly silent through fear) to come forward with further evidence. If these men will be walking amongst them again in 3 years, then why on earth should they risk their safety? This community, which I imagine is overwhelmingly poor and non-white has been told that it is not important.

i truly can't believe what some people are capable of
these men don't deserve that poor girl's forgiveness, they deserve to be locked up indefinitely
how utterly utterly vile

smallwhitecat, just looked at your CPS link.

I assume the local CPS is the London/Metropolitan one.

Dru Sharpling
Chief Crown Prosecutor
CPS London
7th Floor
50 Ludgate Hill
London

I am also going to write to the Attorney General (thanks dittany):

The Attorney General's Office
20 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0NF

Please put these details in the title of your letter to identify the case (thanks tumtum):

Wood Green Crown Court
19/01/2009
Rogel McMorris
Jason Brew
Hector Muaimba

what are you going to say blueshoes?

can you ask for a case to be reviewed?

I will be writing too.

Catissleepy, the gist of what I wrote is:

6-9 years' sentence is too lenient. Request them to appeal the sentencing on this case. Mention the aggravating factors in the case: group attack, torture, victim left with permanent physical and mental scars, lack of remorse (the sniggering in court), young victim, vulnerable victim (learning difficulties). Ask for justice on her behalf.

Thanks for writing

Oops, just noticed I missed out a postcode on the CPS London address. Here it all is again:

(1) Dru Sharpling
Chief Crown Prosecutor
CPS London
7th Floor
50 Ludgate Hill
London EC4M 7EX

(2) The Attorney General's Office
20 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0NF

Title of letter:

Wood Green Crown Court
19/01/2009
Rogel McMorris
Jason Brew
Hector Muaimba

Gist of letter:

6-9 years' sentence is too lenient. Request them to appeal the sentencing on this case. Mention the aggravating factors in the case: group attack, torture, victim left with permanent physical and mental scars, lack of remorse (the sniggering in court), young victim, vulnerable victim (learning difficulties). Ask for justice on her behalf.

thanks for that blueshoes

The CPS refer to cases by defendant name it will be much easier for them to ensure they have the correct case if you use their names in your letters - R v McMorris, Brew & Muaimba. Obviously I doubt they will have trouble identifying the case, but bear in mind this branch of the CPS will have dozens of cases to deal with that are equally horrific. It woudl appear from the news that many groups are outraged at the sentences. I would supsect that the CPS would be seeking to take action on this one. The fact that the girl had SN is not a red herring, it makes her vulnerable and in need of greater protection. Nobody would say that age was a red herring if she had been 9 or 99.

I'd be shocked if the CPS aren't already appealling sentences. Are we sure the figures aren't the tarif for an indeterminate sentence? They seem ludicrously low.

How awful is this. I am shocked at there sentance its crazy that someone that deals class A drugs can get 10 years but people that have destroyed a persons life get 6-9 years between them and will be eligable for parole in half of that.

I will write a letter as well.

I was trying to find that out. If they were then they are actually fairly good sentences. It would make more sense if they are just tarrifs. I'll carry on trying to find out......

Sounds like the actual sentence from this source: The Sun!

The Sun isn't the most reliable sorce, but from what I have seen elsewhere, yes it looks like actual sentences. I would think the CPS are on this......

So, if the SN isn't a red herring, do you think this crime would be less horrific had the victim been NT and the rapists would deserve a lighter sentence?? That's effectively what you are saying.

Yes, in some circumstances, SNs would be relevant but in this case, I think the SN is completely irrelevant.

Regardless of the existence of SNs in the victim, the sentences are a disgrace.

Nothing will help this girl about these men and their sentence nor will it change anything for the family as the father said so eloquently.

What needs to happen is that as a society their sentence reflects the horror we all feel at their crime which has nothing to do with punishment as I doubt these men (struggle with this word for these people) will ever really comprehend the enormity of what they have done.

It would also be helpful to keep them off our streets for longer.

I think SN are an issue in this case as they make the victim more vulnerable, easier to manipulate than other 16 year olds. I totally agree that this crime is horrific, full stop, regardless of who was the victim. If the fact that the victim had SN was an unfortunate coincidence and the crime was a random attack, then no, it shouldn't be a factor in the sentencing. But this crime was premeditated and she was groomed on a website, they preyed on the fact that she had SN as this made her an easier target.

It is an awful sentance whether the child had SNs or not but I thought when a person had a learning diffculty their mental age was suppossed to be taken into account rather than their chronological age?

They weren't tried for attempted murder? The maximum tarif for rape isn't as high as it should be. And I am assuming the gits pleaded not guilty so the poor girl had to be a witness.

They deserve everything that they get in prison. I know it sounds a bit 'Daily Mail', but I am sure other inmates will take the law into their own hands in this case, and I wouldn't shed a tear over these guys. How the hell were they brought up? How can any human being think that this is acceptable? It makes my flesh creep.