The scandal-hit Home Office now faces further fury over 7,200 sex offenders who
were given only a caution for their crimes in just five years.
A growing number of evil perverts are escaping court trials as prison chiefs
battle with over crowded jails.
One shocking snapshot shows that 773 sex offenders have been given nothing more
than a police warning in the North of England over five years.
It is a glaring example of the rising use of cautions instead of dragging
guilty offenders to court where they will almost certainly face jail for their
crimes.
And it piles more pressure on Home Secretary John Reid, who has been accused of
urging courts to send fewer crooks to jail because of the overcrowding crisis.
The startling revelation follows a report revealing that soaring numbers of
rape suspects are escaping justice each year, despite record numbers of women
prepared to come forward to report a sex crime.
Shadow Home Affairs Minister Nick Herbert said: "The figures are bound to
undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system. The fear is that we
are getting soft justice because the Government has failed to build prison
places and is trying to keep cases out of court."
A caution is a formal warning given when a suspect admits a criminal offence.
Police forces in Cumbria, Cleveland, Durham, Northumbria and North Yorkshire -
all part of a huge area which includes Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency,
issued cautions to rapists and child sex offenders.
Figures show their increasing use across the country for such offenders, with
7,200 sex pests cautioned from 2001-2005. The Home Office statistics also show
that 175 people were cautioned for rape.
It is likely to mean that thousands of sexual predators are currently free to
carry on offending instead of being put behind bars.
Some offenders have even avoided being placed on the national Sex Offenders
Register, meaning police and probation officers do not now know where they are.
Mr Reid is already reeling after figures showed that police had lost track of
more than 300 registered sex offenders.
He has also been at loggerheads with the judiciary after pleading with them to
jail only the most dangerous and persistent offenders because of the huge
shortage in prison cells.
Last week it was also revealed that between 2002 and 2005 an extra 4,000 women
reported being raped, while the proportion of suspects being convicted fell
from 6.5 per cent to 5.3 per cent.
The use of cautions was last night condemned by MPs and victims' charities, who
said it undermined confidence in the justice system.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Clegg said: "Cautions should never
be used to let people who have committed serious offences off the hook. There
is no alternative to getting people who endanger the public before a court of
law as quickly as possible."
