Child rapist strikes again days after being let off because victim's Christian family forgave him

A judge is being investigated after he freed a child rapist who kidnapped and assaulted another youngster just eight days later.



Judge Adrian Smith spared the 16-year-old jail after the first victim’s family apparently forgave the teenager because of their Christian faith.



He was given a community order despite protests from prosecutors and police and went on to rape a five-year-old.

Investigation: Judge Smith, who earns £128k a year, freed the 16-year-old after hearing statements from the first victim's father (photo posed by model)

He gave his second victim a Star Wars light sabre toy as a ‘reward’ for keeping quiet.

By chance the new case was due to come back before Judge Smith but he agreed to release it to another judge after Crown Prosecution Service lawyers intervened.



Protests: Judge Adrian Smith

Attorney General Baroness Scotland has been asked to investigate why the original sentence was so lenient.



Today the latest victim’s father, a 35-year-old printer from Greater Manchester, said: ‘Our son was abused not only by this lad but also in effect by the British legal system that was supposed to protect him. I always thought people who commit such serious offences like rape automatically go to prison – yet this boy was allowed to go free. He was even allowed back onto the estate where he lived.



‘In my eyes if someone commits an adult or grown up crime then they should serve an adult or grown up sentence – not be mollycoddled by the courts and told to get treatment.’



He added: ‘My son is six years old now but as a result of what happened his childhood innocence has probably been robbed. Heaven only knows what effect it will have in him in the years to come. We should be able to rely on our judges to use common sense to protect us and our children. ‘In this case the judge has let us and in particular our son down. We won’t be letting the matter rest until the judge is brought to book for the original sentence he passed.’

In the first attack, the teenager lured a seven-year-old boy to a bedroom and subjected him to a horrific assault. He was convicted of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and rape and given a three-year community rehabilitation order at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, on June 26.



Questions: The Attorney General Baroness Scotland has been asked to investigate the case after police and prosecution lawyers expressed dismay over the original sentence

As part of the punishment he was ordered to go to counselling sessions to address his behaviour and was to be supervised by probation officers.



Judge Smith, 58, is thought to have allowed him to go free after hearing statements from the victim’s father, who said his ‘religious faith’ had allowed him to forgive the attacker.

Immediately after the case Crown Prosecution Service lawyers wrote to Baroness Scotland to try to use the Unduly Lenient Sentence procedure to have the case considered for referral to the Court of Appeal.



The rare measure allows the CPS to request a review of any sentence it believes falls below guidelines.



On July 4 the second victim was playing just yards from his doorstep when the attacker lured him away on the premise of looking for a lost football.



He was taken back to the teenager’s house where he was repeatedly sexually abused.



The boy’s parents realised their son was missing when they were alerted by his friend just minutes after his disappearance. He was found emerging from the attacker’s house as they frantically searched the neighbourhood for him.



The teenager initially claimed he was working for Christian Aid and that he ‘helped children who had been abused’.



But the boy told his parents what had happened and the teenager was arrested.



The attacker, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has admitted child abduction, rape and kidnap.



He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month after psychiatric reports have been prepared.





A history of leniency



Kelly Barton: Abused by her father

It is not the first time that Judge Adrian Smith has faced criticism over claims he has handed down an unduly lenient sentence.



In 2007 he jailed Philip Tilston, 42, for ten years for sexually abusing daughters Emma and Kelly Barton and another girl more than 15 years ago. But the sisters, who waived anonymity, were furious with the sentence.



Judge Smith also gave loan shark John Kiely, 36, just five years in prison for building up a multi-million fortune through fear, menace and intimidation.



Kiely charged up to 2,400 per cent interest on loans and used an army of enforcers to collect debts owed by poor families on east Manchester housing estates.



The judge was condemned again after he jailed Adrian Bunn for 15 months and his wife Deborah for a year after they attacked 48-year-old Stephen Hughes in his own home.



Mr Hughes was severely injured and needed 21 metal pins and several titanium plates inserted into his face to repair broken bones.



The court heard that Deborah, 36, had ‘enlisted’ the attackers, including her 21-year-old son Craig, to go to Mr Hughes’s home and her husband, 39, had ‘gleefully encouraged’ the violent confrontation.



In another case in 1999 Judge Smith tried to hold the trial of a girl of 12 accused of being a serial sex attacker in private until lawyers intervened.



The 58-year-old judge, who has two daughters aged 32 and 30, lives in a converted coachhouse in Cheshire. He is a keen traveller and loves theatre and fellwalking.

He became a senior circuit judge in 1996 and was a member of the North West Mental Health Review Tribunal.