Teenage rapist claims he was denied justice due to his age.

Sean Hogg suffered a 'miscarriage of justice' when he was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2018. He was 17 at the time and was sentenced to 270 hours unpaid work by Judge Lord Lake at Glasgow’s High Court in April.
Prosecutors at Scotland’s Crown Office had intended to challenge the sentence, which was described as ‘unduly lenient’. However, Scotland’s most senior judges will now review the conviction due to legal mistakes that were made during the trial.

The complainant has been left devastated by the decision and maintains she ‘told the truth’. Legal mistakes included a ‘factual error on behalf of the trial judge’, as well as inadequate directions to the jury and a decision to direct the jury on distress. Solicitor General Ruth Charteris KC said: ‘The Crown’s position is clear, mistakes were made at the trial.’

At the appeal court, Judge Lord Matthews described some of the evidence as ‘worthless’ and said: ‘There was a strong public interest in the trial being fair.’ Representing Hogg, Donald Findlay KC said: ‘There has been a miscarriage of justice. What happened was wrong and ended up with a verdict being allowed to stand, which should not have been allowed to stand.’

Aamer Anwar, the solicitor who represented the complainant, said: ‘My client in April of this year was left devastated. As far as she is concerned, she came forward. She told the truth. She spoke up. She believes the police and the jury did its duty.’

At the sentencing in April, Lord Lake said that he believed prison would not ‘contribute to [Hogg’s] rehabilitation’, due to his age and lack of criminal record. New guidelines for sentencing people under 25, making rehabilitation rather than punishment a primary consideration, were introduced in Scotland in January 2022.

Chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, Sandy Brinley, said that the sentence was ‘worryingly lenient’, and that ‘our thoughts are with the survivor of this crime’. A decision on the appeal will be issued in writing in due course.

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