Twelve-Year-Old "Was Asking For It"

Remember last week when I was complaining about a judge's claims that a ten year old girl had (1) looked sixteen, (2) been dressed provocatively (and that excused anything!) and (3) consented to sex with two men withing 45 minutes of meeting them? The sentences handed down to the two men mean one walked free on the day and the other will serve only a few months. I did follow up on the case - trying to start one of those on-line petitions to Downing Street asking for the judge's removal from office. I was refused permission to do so because it covered "Issues for which an e-petition is not the appropriate channel". I wrote back and asked them what channel I should use to get this evil guy (his name is Judge Julian Hall if you ever find yourself wandering a lonely cliff-top with him...) out and they didn't bother getting back to me. Advice very welcome.

Well it turns out now that the case has a super-sinister predecessor. In 2003 Michael Mullen, himself seventeen, raped a 12-year-old girl on a school playing field. Now don't tell me he didn't know she was twelve - grown women don't hang out on school playing fields. Great lovers of the world - take note - if she's got a "prefect" badge on, best to just check! He freely admitted having had sex with said girl, but claimed she had consented, overlooking the fact that 12-year-olds can't consent, they are too young to do so. Well they really really were going to take him to court but then the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) said there was new evidence that undermined the victim's case. Unless it was a new birth certificate that made her 34 all of a sudden, I don't really see what that could be. Still the case was dropped, apparently because of inconsistencies in what a raped 12-year-old was saying.

The decision to drop the case and let Mullen off turns out to be a bad one. In February this year Mullen raped and murdered his two-year-old niece. That is not only a disgusting crime, it is a completely preventable one.