Rotherham rapist's sentence cut over judge's slip-up

Ashley Anthony Hinchliffe (19), of March Flatts Road, Rotherham, was given six years’ youth custody after he was found guilty of rape at Sheffield Crown Court last year.

Despite finding that Hinchliffe deserved a long stretch behind bars, London’s Court of Appeal cut his prison term because of an apparent offer made by the judge during the victim's harrowing evidence.

Mr Justice Foskett told the court Hinchliffe had attacked an older woman after a party in 2010, pinning her to the ground and ignoring her screams.

The brave victim, who bit Hinchliffe's tongue and headbutted him in a bid to escape, was later encouraged to go to the police by a family member, the court heard.

Hinchliffe claimed the sex was consensual and the woman’s injuries were caused by “play fighting”, but he was convicted of rape at a retrial.

Mr Dermot Hughes, for Hinchliffe, said that the trial judge indicated during the victim’s evidence that Hinchliffe would get a three-year sentence if he admitted the offence.

The comments were “intended to help”, but left Hinchliffe “unable to understand” why he got double that stretch after being found guilty, Mr Hughes argued.

Mr Justice Foskett, sitting with Lord Justice Davis and Mr Justice Sweeney, agreed to reduce Hinchliffe’s detention term to five years, meaning he will be entitled to automatic release after two-and-a-half years in custody.

He ruled: “In our judgment a sentence of six years was entirely justified and richly merited for the very unpleasant nature of this attack.

“However, it seems to us that the appearance of an injustice may have been given to the appellant by virtue of the way the sentence was apparently increased from what the judge had in mind at one point to what was double that.”

READ MORE