Sex offenders get only a 'ticking off'

The figures, uncovered using the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that between April 2007 and November 2009, 11,679 offenders were given cautions, conditional cautions, reprimands or final warnings for a range of offences – many of them often dealt with by a crown court.

Among them are 102 people who produced drugs, 12 people guilty of wounding which endangered a person's life, 2,610 people guilty of other wounding offences, 41 arsonists, 126 house burglars, 256 people who burgled other properties and even one for aggravated burglary.

The list also includes a range of sexual offences. Two offenders who raped a child under 16 years old avoided court, as did 59 people charged with sexual assault on women over and under 13 years old.

And 11 people guilty of conspiracy to murder or making threats to murder and one drug trafficker were let off with a caution.

The figures can be revealed the day after it was announced that crime in Lancashire was down by 6 per cent, a drop of 7,354 crimes, in the 12 months to September 2009, compared to the same period for 2008.

Police have defended the FOI figures and said in many cases there are reasons for not putting people before the courts,while some offenders were given reprimands or final warnings because they are under 18.

But victims of crime branded the findings "wrong".

Mark Horvath, 28, from Preston, was knocked off his bike and savagely beaten by a complete stranger two years ago. He said seeing his attacker before the courts helped him get over the ordeal.

He said: "It is wrong, they should not be getting away with it but that is how our law system works."

Pravin Patel, who used to run a Spar store near Preston, but sold it after it was targeted twice by robbers, said: "They should take them to court and get a punishment, but the problem is the punishments don't last long enough either."

But Insp John Clucas, of Lancashire police's criminal justice department, said: "Each individual case is dealt with on its merits.

'Final warnings'

Decisions to caution for the most serious offences are made in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service and there may be particular facts relating to an individual case that merits a decision not to put a person before a court.

"On top of this, the figures also include reprimands and final warnings so there are some offenders included in these figures who were under 18 years of age."

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "In the majority of cases these out of court disposals are issued at the discretion of the police according to the facts and circumstances of the case.

"However, where the police do consult us, which they should do for all indictable only offences (that is the most serious type of offences) and for all conditional cautions, we always look at the circumstances of each case individually, in consultation with the police and in accordance with national guidelines, before deciding whether a caution or conditional caution is appropriate or not.

"It is only in exceptional circumstances that authority will be given by the CPS to issue a caution for the most serious type of offences.

"In fact, out of a total of 290 cases between November 2008 and October 2009 where police cautions were issued following consultation between police and CPS lawyers, only three of these cases involved indictable only offences."

BPP COMMENT: The only ticking off this scum should get is on a list headed 'scheduled executions'