Justice Secretary Ken Clarke got himself into trouble on the radio this morning with his remarks about rape, which appeared to suggest (oh the heresy) that not all rapes were of equal severity and that some rapes might therefore attract different levels of sentencing.When pressed to justify his comments, he produced this example:If an 18-year-old has sex with a 15-year-old and she is perfectly willing that is rape, because she is under age, she can’t consent, anybody who has sex with a 15 year old it’s rape. Now this is legally incorrect. While the age of consent in the UK is 16, non-coercive sex in which one (or both) partners is 15 is not rape. It is unlawful sexual intercourse. Under s9 of the 2003 Sexual Offences Act, if one party is over 18 – the situation Ken Clarke described – it is defined as “sexual activity with a child”. Under s5 it IS rape if the child is under thirteen
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