New law needed to convict ‘familiar rapists’

A NEW rape offence may be needed, say campaigners, because jurors are failing to convict in cases of “familiar” rape, in which victims knew their attacker.

Experts want a review of legislation after figures showed that convictions stalled at the same time as reports of rape were rising, leading to a bigger gap in the rate of successful prosecutions.

Jess Phillips, a Labour MP, said: “We definitely need some sort of review. We need to face up to things like collapsed cases”. She added that a “second type of offence” should be considered.

A spokesman for Rape Crisis said there needed to be a “long-term cultural shift” in the way people thought about rape and a campaign targeted at older people and teenagers.

Ms Phillips said: “Convicting people of rape in marriage, convicting people of rape through colleagues or people who you know, familiar rape, is really, really hard unless there are other mitigating factors. I think the justice system definitely needs a better response to rape that isn’t stranger rape.”

Maria Miller, chairman of the women and equalities committee, said that the country needed a “judicial system better able to reflect society’s views on what constitutes rape now, not 40 years ago”.