Attorney General to review 'lenient' sentence after two men spared jail for having sex with 14-year-old girls
'My still teenage daughter has found the whole thing extremely difficult to deal with and has suffered mental health problems as a result, which has impacted our whole family'
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The Attorney General is to review an "unduly lenient" sentence after two men avoided jail despite having sex with two underage girls.
Lee Pollard and Mark Allen, both 26, were found guilty by a jury of sexual activity with a pair of 14-year-olds after an encounter fuelled by alcohol and drugs.
But both men were handed 15-month suspended sentences by Exeter Crown Court.
This prompted an angry reaction from the mother of one of the young victims who criticised the lawyers and the judge for describing the sex as "consensual".
Both defendants, who were 24 at the time, knew the girls ages and plied them with alcohol and amphetamines before engaging in oral and full sex, the court heard.
Judge Graham Cottle then sparked fury when he said the sexual activity was consensual and the girls were drunk and "almost naked" when the men arrived.
The mother immediately said the girls were not in a fit state to consent to anything.
She said: "My daughter found the trial extremely distressing. I can only hope that the judge's apparent disregard for that, and his opinion that children can have consensual sex with adults, does not prevent other children from coming forward in the future."
The matter has now been referred to the Attorney General's Office under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.
It is currently being reviewed and if found to be too low can be sent to the Court of Appeal for re-sentencing.
Pollard, of Torquay, Devon, and Allen, of Chudleigh Knighton, Devon, were both convicted at trial in November last year, after denying sexual activity with girls under 16.
They were told by the judge after the verdicts that a custodial sentence was "inevitable."
The court heard the teenagers had been drinking before the men arrived at the flat in Dawlish, Devon.
The defendants arrived with amphetamines and alcohol and a few hours later sent out for a delivery of condoms and more booze.
One of the girls had full sex with Pollard and both had oral sex with Allen, the court heard.
But it was the language used by the judge, as well as the prosecution and defence lawyers in summing up the case, which caused outrage from the mother of the teenager, who can not be named for legal reasons.
Judge Graham Cottle said he would not pass a sentence which condoned adult sex with girls under 14 but added the men had "been greeted by a scene they had not anticipated at all" when they arrived at the house.
He said it was no responsibility of the men that the girls had been drinking before they arrived.
Judge Cottle said: "By the time you arrived they were, if not completely naked, then almost. And there followed consensual sexual activity between the two girls and the two of you."
Nicholas Fridd, defending Pollard said the matter was "water under the bridge" due to the amount of time it had taken to come to court.
Rupert Taylor, defending Allen described him as a "simple soul".
But the mum said she was "horrified" by the comments.
She said: "What kind of 'simple soul' feeds drugs and alcohol to a child? The 'water under the bridge' has for us been two long years with this case looming. My still teenage daughter has found the whole thing extremely difficult to deal with and has suffered mental health problems as a result, which has impacted our whole family.
"I thought that a custodial sentence was a given, the judge at the trial said as much. Why he has chosen to lesser their punishment is beyond belief. I am horrified. My daughter went out expecting to be in the company of females, she had no idea these men would turn up.
"I very much doubt she would have gone if she thought that was the case. She was not in a fit state to consent to anything and I'm appalled that the judge has deemed this to be possible."
SWNS