Rapist has sentence reduced

A notorious rapist has failed in an appeal against his conviction for the rape of an 85-year-old woman suffering with Alzheimer’s disease but has succeeded in having the last two years of his 21-year sentence suspended.

The Court of Criminal Appeal today found that there had been an error in principle in the sentence imposed on Simon McGinley (aged 37), who was jailed for 21 years by Mr Justice George Birmingham in July 2009 after he was convicted of rape by a Central Criminal Court jury.