Sex offenders against children shouldn’t be allowed to enter a late guilty plea.

A sex offender who raped a child pleaded innocent, until the child admitted it to a police. They then pleaded guilty and received a reduced sentence. This seems wrong that a child should have to relive a trauma, for the offender to then receive 25% off their sentence.

We understand that you are concerned about the impact of late guilty pleas on victims, but we are not sure what action you would like taken.

There are already guidelines setting out that the sentence reduction for a guilty plea should be lower if the plea is made later in proceedings:

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Reduction-in-Sentence-for-Guilty-plea-Definitive-Guide_FINAL_WEB.pdf

You could start a new petition calling for the law to be changed so that offenders who enter a guilty plea after evidence has been heard cannot have a reduction on their sentence if that is something you would like to see happen.