'Weak!' Lord Hermer REFUSED to review ‘grossly inadequate’ rape gang sentences

Three of the grooming gang perpetrators were convicted of rape, while Perwaz Asghar committed two indecent assaults.

Amreaz Asghar was sentenced for only four-and-a-half years, with Mohammed Din receiving 14 years for 11 counts of rape.

Despite Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick and Keighley MP Robbie Moore condemning the sentences as "weak" and "grossly inadequate", The Telegraph has revealed that Lord Hermer's office decided against sending them to the Court of Appeal.

The latest row raises further questions about Lord Hermer's judgment, with the Attorney General declining to review "unduly lenient" sentences given to a rapist, a paedophile and a terrorist fundraiser.

Hermer also signed off on the prosecution of Lucy Connolly over her inflammatory social media posts after the Southport stabbings.

Jenrick said: “These sentences are pitiful. For a perpetrator to be sentenced for just one year per rape is an insult to the victim.

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"It’s outrageous that the Attorney General didn’t refer these sentences as unduly lenient.”

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice added: “Lord Hermer appears to be soft on child sex offenders, soft on protecting British girls and soft on standing up for British values, as he helped give away the Chagos Islands.”

The four West Yorkshire grooming gangs perpetrators were sentenced in January after facing trial in October 2023.

Reporting restrictions were eventually lifted earlier this year, with records from the Attorney General's office suggesting that their sentences had been handed down in July last year.

At the time the original sentences were revealed, Vicky Greenbank, of Bradford District Police, said: “The abuse both girls endured robbed them of their childhood, and I hope seeing these men sentenced for these horrendous offences will give them justice and some closure.

“I hope this sends a clear message that, regardless of how long ago these offences may have happened, we will pursue every avenue to get justice.”

However, the Attorney General and Solicitor General Lucy Rigby, known as the Law Officers, opted against sending the decisions for review in August last year.

Hermer and Rigby instead challenged the “unduly lenient” sentences handed to three other men from the same rape gang.

Members of the public across England and Wales can ask the Attorney General to re-examine a sentence handed down by a Crown Court.

The Attorney General can subsequently refer the decision to the Court of Appeal to keep the sentence the same, increase it, or issue guidance for future cases.

Hermer's involvement in sentencing comes after Sir Keir Starmer was forced to announce a U-turn on holding a national grooming gangs inquiry.

Despite initially labelling those who were demanding a probe as "jumping on a far-right bandwagon", the Prime Minister said: "I've read every single word of her [Baroness Casey's] report, and I'm going to accept her recommendation."

The Casey report made a number of recommendations and even accused the Establishment of being in denial over the role of ethnicity in one of Britain's darkest scandals.

A spokesman for the Attorney General’s office said: “The vulnerable victims in this case suffered hideous and shocking abuse, and the Law Officers commend their bravery in coming forward.

“A referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence.

“The threshold is a high one, and after careful consideration of independent legal advice and consultation with leading criminal barristers and the Crown Prosecution Service, the Law Officers determined the test was not met for the sentences of the four men.”