Judge orders child rapist to pay his victim, 13, just £20 in compensation as Tory MP blasts ‘national scandal’
- Only in 26 cases from 6,861 child abuse sentences courts gave compensation
- Most of the sums awarded to victims were branded ‘derisory’
- Victims are being paid anything from £20 to £1,000 for their ordeals
- Critics of the scheme say it is simply compounding the pain of young victims
A judge ordered a child rapist to pay just £20 in compensation to his victim, shocking figures reveal.
The paltry award to the boy under 13 is one of just 26 cases from 6,861 child abuse sentences in which courts ordered offenders to pay compensation.
A significant number of those 26 victims of serious sexual abuse received only derisory payouts from the little-used Criminal Compensation Orders (CCOs).
The rapist of a girl aged between 13 and 15 was told to pay just £100, while another paedophile was told to pay £250 after raping a girl under the age of 13.
Only six cases resulted in offenders being ordered to pay £1,000 or more to their child victims.
Change in the system: MP Andrew Griffiths said urgent changes need to be made to ensure child sexual abuse victims get the compensation they deserve
The figures emerged after a series of written parliamentary questions to Government ministers by Conservative MP Andrew Griffiths, himself a survivor of child sex abuse.
The MP for Burton in Staffordshire said: ‘These figures are a national scandal. What must the young boy who went through the trauma of bringing his rapist to court have felt like when he was told that his misery was worth just £20?
‘Or the teenage girl given only £100 when her rapist was sentenced? By making these awards, the judge has actually added to their trauma.
‘The Government must urgently change the system to ensure judges are awarding the compensation that victims of child sexual abuse deserve.’
Under the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, judges ‘must consider’ making a compensation order against an offender ‘in any case where personal injury, loss or damage resulted from that offence’.
There is no financial limit on CCO awards but the court must take into account an offender’s means. But each year, thousands of child sex abuse victims instead claim from the State through the Criminal Injuries Compensation scheme.
Peter Saunders, of the National Association of People Abused in Childhood, said: ‘If you defame a pop star they get awarded hundreds of thousands of pounds but a child who is raped can get £20. It’s quite disgusting.’
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘Judges must consider ordering offenders to pay compensation to victims but the amount will depend on how much money they have.
‘Separately, the Government provides compensation to victims of crime and our review of this scheme is considering how it might better serve victims of child sexual abuse.’