Judge says 13 year old girl seduced man online

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

Daily Mail link

fgs. I thought you had to be intelligent to be a judge. Don't they at least give them basic training?

judge should be sacked.

Judge Fox said it was difficult to reconcile the hard-working and highly thought-of young man written of in references with a child sex fiend.

He said: 'I accept it has been a dreadful shock to your mother, to your father and to your grandmother and to those others who have known you.

'And in addition (to the images), there was your perverted activities over the internet with the 13-year-old, who, I accept, appears to have seduced you.'

WTF?

At least the angle taken by the DM was in opposition to the judge's view, I suppose that's something.

But jeez......

OK, I think I'm going to start naming and shaming some of these judges on Set A New Precedent.

Names and cases, please...!

I'm pleased you posted this OP. I read this in the Metro this morning and was horrified. I meant to post something up but didn't have the time to find the link.

That story combined with the gruesome coverage of the serial killer who they now think may have killed many more women that originally realised made for pretty grim reading this morning :(

One a case of a young girl being blamed for "seducing" a man more than 10 years her senior. The other a story of a sociopath who hates women so much he cuts them up, dumps their bodies and then writes grim ditties about it :(

It's very difficult to remove a Judge (unless they are clearly unfit for the role).....

It was difficult to reconcile the hard-working and highly thought-of young man written of in references with a child sex fiend.

Not that difficult if the evidence is staring you in the face surely?

Kieran Rainey, mitigating, said the girl encouraged Barnes - then aged 22 - by saying she liked older people, but accepted he should have 'disengaged'.

So saying that you 'like older people' is tantamount to seduction?

And would we have got the same result if the victim had been a boy? Or is it just girls who get to play this Lolita role?

The description of the 5yo being raped in that article made me feel physically sick. Surely possession of such an image should warrant a prison sentence.

...but if he'd had a prison sentence, he wouldn't have been eligible for the sex offender treatment programme.

Which is ridiculous.

Why not?

K999 - "It's very difficult to remove a Judge (unless they are clearly unfit for the role)"

well, he clearly is unfit, if he sees nothing wrong in making such comments. Perhaps we should get feminist groups to campaign, demand a public apology, etc, when this sort of thing happens. Eventually perhaps we'll get attitudes to change.

Clearly he is paedo too and therefore in cahoots with any cases like that that come his way. Only paedophiles themselves think in the way he has there. Disgusting.

Why is it that only the tabloids seem to report on stories like this?

I have come to the conclusion that some judges give out sentences that are derisory because they can imagine themselves commiting the same acts.

it is weird.
Surely a normal man couldn't be seduced by a 13 year old because they know it is wrong, so to say 'she seduced you' ignores the fact that the man has to take a large part in it.
And it was online ffs! So all he had to do was to turn off the computer or even, just, you know, click the little red cross in the top right hand corner of the screen!

I hope these dinosaurs are close to extinction. Sadly the way the Mail report on sex crimes in general leads me to believe a significant chunk of the population holds similar views :(

A few years ago I did jury service and was very pleasantly surprised by the (elderly male) judges. I don't know anything about the judiciary though, whether they just happen to be two reasonable individuals or if there is perhaps a good "culture" in that particular crown court.

Exactly seth.

I am sickened that the godawful point about the five year old appears to have been swept under the carpet. They've made one child into a scapegoat so that they can ignore what's happened to another child. How can this be allowed?

I also meant to type - the sentencing is pretty ordinary I think, as the judge did explain there is no treatment with a custodial sentence. From what I know of the prison system there are so many "nonces" now they are all together in segregation making plans to commit more vile crimes once released. It really wouldn't surprise me if they have access to child porn or worse inside too.

There's an excellent book Monsters and Men about paedophiles and child pornography. It's written with the Scotland Yard unit who deal with all this.
It is VERY upsetting though. I read it before I had children and it was bad enough then. Worth a read though as it explains how offending escalates, how these creatures operate and what the police are doing to tackle the problem.

Good grief. The only possible reason I can think of to explain this is that the judge was acting pragmatically - seeing as (apparently) the programme wouldn't have been available to him had he been given a custodial sentance.

But seduced him? WTF?!?!?

And surely the material he had on his PC was enough to do more. It beggers belief.

hmm. no local feminist group in Darlington yet.

my group is one of the nearest.

who do you complain to about judges? what else would one do? write a letter to the local paper? anyone know?

although I don't think he was right to take the pragmatic route (given the seriousness of some of the material) the comment about seduction is utterly indefensible in my view.
thing is, it's not just that it's wrong, it's also dangerous, because it helps promote a culture in which offenders aren't responsible for their actions if the crimes are against girls. Hence it is utterly irresponsible.

God. I missed the 5yo being raped thing :( :(

They didn't report that in the Metro.

I think writing to the judge himself (and your MP) is probably the way to go. It would be really interesting to read his reply.
If he truly believes that a 13 yo is in any way responsible for an adult's behaviour, how can he preside over any cases involving sex crimes and children under the age of consent? Is he saying that he does not believe in statuatory rape?

Off at a tangent but how could I find out about feminist groups local to me?

sethstarkaddersmackerel wrote - "who do you complain to about judges?"

One possibility could be the
Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman

A quote from their website:

"The Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman investigates complaints about the judicial appointments process and the handling of matters involving judicial discipline or conduct.

The Ombudsman assumed his responsibilities on 3 April 2006 under the Provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. He is completely independent of Government and the judiciary."

I think that the Ministry of Justice handles the judiciary from the Government side, so that might be another possible channel.