AN MP from the district has been praised by a Government law officer for questioning the suspended jail sentence handed to a female teaching assistant who had sex with a 15-year-old student.

Solicitor General Robert Buckland said Shipley MP Philip Davies was right to question the suspended sentence of Caroline Berriman, 30, from Oldham.

Her original two-year suspended sentence was overturned to two years in jail after Mr Davies and members of the public complained it was unduly "lenient".

In a letter to Mr Davies, Mr Buckland wrote: "This case was important for re-emphasising that children of both genders must be protected from grooming and sexual interference and I thank you for bringing it to my attention."

Mr Davies said: "If this was a male teacher and it was a female pupil he would have been sent to prison immediately.

"Children should be protected at school and it is not only girls who can be groomed. I was pleased when the sentence for Berriman was overturned earlier this month but I am also very pleased that the Solicitor General agrees that everyone should be protected."

A spokesman for the MP said: "Mr Davies has previously uncovered huge discrepancies in sentences handed out to men and women, with women being more likely to walk free for the same crime, and if they are sentenced, they receive a significantly shorter punishment.

"Berriman’s case was one of four recently referred to the Court of Appeal by Mr Davies in recent months, and all have had their sentences extended."