Rapists are walking free from prison in less than five years in the North, it emerged today.

The Ulster Unionists were today accused of being out of touch with the needs of working class Protestants after it called on the British government to boost loyalist confidence by ending concessions to republicans.

More than four fifths of young offenders referred to schemes in the North that bring them face-to-face with their victims were boys, a report revealed today.

The British government today insisted all community justice schemes in Northern Ireland it approves will have to involve the police.