It is better for society that a few guilty men walk free than innocent men are imprisoned for rapes or sexual assaults they have not committed, says Baroness Wolf of Dulwich, an economist, author and university professor.

Public pressure to punish every sexual predator would risk more miscarriages of justice, she said. “I do feel strongly that it’s better that people who are guilty walk free than innocent people are imprisoned and have their whole lives ruined,” she said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t put a huge amount of effort into trying to find out what happened. It certainly doesn’t mean you go back to a world where you don’t take allegations seriously. But there is a huge world of difference between taking allegations seriously