JUDGE'S OUTRAGEOUS RAPE COMMENTS SPARK PUBLIC FURY
A JUDGE provoked outrage yesterday after he told a rapist his offence was not so bad because he knew the woman he attacked.Judge Michael Addison, sentencing cabinet maker David Forrest for raping a woman he had taken out for a meal, said: ''This is not in my view the more serious type of rape -- that is the rape of a total stranger.'' Women's campaigners called for the Judge to be taken off rape cases.
A Rape Crisis Line spokeswoman said: ''There is no such thing as a rape which is better or worse than another -- all of them are horrific experiences.
''How can a male Judge know how it felt for that woman to be raped?'' Earlier this year, in the same Crown Court at Winchester, another Judge provoked a storm of protest when he described an eight-year-old sex attack victim as ''not entirely an angel''.
Judge Ian Starforth Hill made the remark while sentencing student Karl Gambrill, 21, for attempting unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl.
Gambrill, who was initially given two years probation, had his sentence increased to four months imprisonment by the Court of Appeal.
In yesterday's case, David Forrest, 36, of Tichborne Down, Alresford, near Winchester, denied the charge and claimed the 24-year-old woman consented to sex after she invited him into her home for a coffee after their evening out last November.
Judge Addison, who jailed Forrest for three-and-a-half years, said: ''I do not accept that her behaviour led you to believe that she would have sex with you.
''I accept that you misread the signals, but you grabbed her by the wrists and forced her upstairs.'' The Rape Crisis Line spokeswoman added: ''It really seems like he is making excuses for the rapist to allow him to get a softer sentence.
''More than 90% of rapes are committed by men who know their victims, and it is about time courts recognised this.
''It makes it very hard for a woman to go through the ordeal of going to court if justice is not really done.
''The courts should be sending out a message that rape is unacceptable and people who commit rape will be dealt with seriously.
''Perhaps the answer is to stop male Judges who are out of touch with reality from taking charge of rape cases.''
