Blunkett changes Sex Offences Bill to aid rape victims

The Home Secretary is proposing a legal change to improve the rate of convictions for rape. Defendants who use force or drugs will have to prove that the alleged victim consented to sex. Otherwise, the court will presume a person has been raped if sex occurred after they were threatened, drugged, subjected to violence or held against their will.

The change to the SexualOffences Bill yesterday is intended to lead to more convictions for rape, which carries a maximum jail term of life. Less than 6 per cent of the 9,000 recorded rapes in England and Wales lead to convictions.

David Blunkett's law changes will be debated by MPs next week when they return to the House of Commons from their summer break, and are almost certain to be approved. They are directed against perpetrators of rape whose victims are drugged and unable to remember or recount details of the circumstances of their ordeal in court.

Under present laws, victims have to provide evidence they have been raped and did not consent to sex. But Mr Blunkett's proposals will shift the balance of responsibility and make it necessary for the accused to prove the defendant consented. The Sexual Offences Bill already increases the maximum penalty for drugging a person if the intention is to commit a sex offence.

The Home Secretary said yesterday that the new rules would encourage more rape victims to contact the police and go to trial. "Rape is a terrible crime, which deeply affects the lives of victims and their families and we are determined to crack down on people who drug their victims," he said. "The law must be clear that sexual acts should take place only with the agreement of both parties."

The move was welcomed by women's groups who have been pressing for measures to boost the number of rape convictions. A spokeswoman for Womankind Worldwide said: "Changing the legislative approach is very, very important but ... we don't believe there are sufficient resources going into prevention work. We believe there should be a lot more work on attitude changing to gender violence. The conviction rates for rape are terrible and there has to be support for assisting women to make claims. Thousands of cases a year of rape are not reported."