THE BRITISH LOVE OF CRIMINALS AGAIN

A five-year minimum sentence for a convicted paedophile who seized and subjected a three-year old girl to a terrifying ordeal is to be reviewed by the Attorney-General. Lord Goldsmith, QC, said he had requested the file in the case of Craig Sweeney and would consider a challenge to the jail term. The Home Secretary and the Crown Prosecution Service both called for a review of the sentence, described by the little girl's relatives as "an insult".

John Reid, the Home Secretary, also called it "unduly lenient" and said he would write to the Attorney-General asking him to refer the case to the Court of Appeal. But Lord Goldsmith's office emphasised that he would make his decision "purely on the merits of the case and not in response to political or public pressure". It did not "imply any criticism of the sentencing judge".

Sweeney, 24, was jailed for life at Cardiff Crown Court yesterday by Judge John Griffith Williams, who told him that early release was "unlikely". But the judge cut his jail term by one third to 12 years in recognition of his guilty plea. Because prisoners are eligible for parole after half their sentence, and taking into account time spent on remand, Sweeney could in principle be released in five years, 108 days.

Sweeney was living in a halfway house for freed offenders when he took the girl from her front room while her mother was on the telephone. He subjected the girl to a terrifying ordeal which ended only when he crashed his car after a police chase.
Yesterday there was concern in legal circles about political pressure over sentences, fuelled by a campaign in The Sun criticising "soft" judges. The office of the Lord Chief Justice declined to comment last night but several judges have expressed concern about the singling out of individuals and calls for them to be sacked. The Lord Chancellor defended judges' sentences, which were not "by and large" unduly lenient, but said the newspaper was "free to attack the judiciary as offensively as it likes, short of defamation".

After yesterday's sentence on Sweeney, Anne Tyson, the solicitor for the girl's family, said: "The family believes today's sentence is an insult to their three-year-old daughter and that there are grave failings in the criminal justice system that need to be urgently addressed. "The victim's family is now calling for the Government . . . to significantly increase the prison sentences given to paedophiles."

The court heard that Sweeney took the girl after knocking on her mother's door. The family had last seen him nine years before. Sweeney had been released on licence just two days earlier after serving 18 months of a three-year sentence for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl. Susan Ferrier, prosecuting, said: "The family returned home from a shopping trip and saw a young man on the front doorstep of the house . . . the mother recognised him as a babysitter from nine years ago. "He was invited in and sat with the family in the kitchen. They were already concerned about comments he was making. He said he had just been released from prison and he said he had spent time with paedophiles and rapists. "The mother went to make a telephone call and heard her 10-year-old son yelling: `He's got her'. He could clearly see that Sweeney was leaving with the little girl. It was too late, he was already gone."

Sweeney drove from her home in Cardiff to the halfway house in Newport where he was living where he subjected the girl to a violent sexual assault. Sweeney, who had been drinking, then showed off the child to other residents, including other convicted sex offenders at the address. One of his friends told him that police were looking for him. Sweeney set off along the M4 into England where he carried out another sexual assault in a lay-by in Swindon. But a police patrol car noticed him drive through a red light with no lights and began a pursuit. They followed for 13 miles as he drove at speeds of up to 100mph on the wrong side of the road.

Miss Ferrier said: "He was swerving violently towards police trying to block his exit. At one point he sped straight at an articulated lorry before swerving away at the last minute. Police positioned a helicopter above Sweeney, at which point he swerved violently down a bank." Sweeney was arrested near Marlborough, Wiltshire, and the officers who until then had been unaware of the kidnapping, found the girl lying at the side of the road where she had been thrown from the car. When the girl was rescued by police, she asked doctors: "Is the nasty man gone?" Sweeney, of Newport, Gwent, admitted kidnap, three charges of sexual assault and dangerous driving.

Judge John Griffith Williams QC told Sweeney that he was a "thoroughly devious man. You kidnapped this little girl for your own sexual gratification. You subjected her to an extremely painful ordeal that beggars belief." He added: "You and the family must understand that early release is unlikely. You will be not released while there is the slightest risk of you reoffending. "You are an exceptionally high risk to young girls."

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