Consecutive jail terms for sex offences - Tom Humphries sentencing

THE two-and-a-half-year sentence imposed on Tom Humphries has drawn widespread criticism, some of it hysterical but most of it measured and appropriate, with many commentators attacking not just its leniency but comments made by the judge during sentencing. 

Some of the criticism, however, is based on the mistaken impression that the sentencing judge had far wider scope than she had and could have jailed the former high-profile journalist for life for engaging in sex acts with the then 16-year-old girl.

In fact, the maximum sentence that could be imposed on him for defilement of a child under the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006 is five years for someone between the ages of 15 and 17.