Convicted oral child rapist Adam Hulin will not take part in any sex offenders’ treatment programme it has emerged - even though sentencing guidelines say this should happen when a judge decides not to impose a jail  term.

Hulin, 19, of Hookwood Cottages, in Hurst Lane, Headley, was given 100 hours of community service, a £60 victim surcharge and the requirement to attend six community reintegration sessions after pleading guilty to oral rape and sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl in Bookham in December 2012.

The talented runner was only put on the Sex Offenders' Register for five years after he was sentenced by the judge Recorder George Lawson-Rogers QC at Guildford Crown Court last month.

Last week, the Solicitor General Oliver Heald QC MP decided that the sentence handed to Hulin would not be reviewed - despite calls from the victim’s family and others who believed it was unduly lenient.

In his decision, Mr Heald referred to the Definitive Guideline on Sexual Offences relevant to sentencing after April 1, 2014 - which sets out the appropriate range of sentences for the offences Hulin admitted.

In cases of rape of a child under 13, the Definitive Guideline states that the maximum sentence is life imprisonment, with the normal range being six to 19 years in prison.

The guideline states that the majority of such offences will deserve a significant custodial sentence - but that there may be exceptional cases where a lengthy community order and requirement to participate in a sex offender treatment programme may be the best way of changing an offender's behaviour and protecting the public.."

Mr Heald's office said that Recorder Lawson-Rogers QC had concluded that this case fell into this exceptional category.

But, even though the Guideline states that, in such exceptional cases, the offender should be required to attend a sex offender treatment programme, Hulin was not given any such requirement - only six "community reintegration" sessions.

Sex offender treatment programmes are specifically designed to reduce the reoffending rates of sex offenders and include motivational work, developing thinking skills, challenging offenders about their behaviour and getting them to consider the consequences for their victims and understanding why the offence was committed.

The treatment method is cognitive-behavioural, which is centred on group discussion and exercises with offenders to help them change the way they behave.

In contrast, community reintegration sessions focus on thinking skills, education, employment and training, drugs or alcohol rehabilitation, depending on the nature of the offence.

Community reintegration sessions are not a type of sex offenders’ treatment programme.

A spokesman in the Solicitor General’s office said that the Sentencing Guidelines are not considered in isolation when a case is reviewed and that the circumstances of the whole case are considered in the round.

He said: "The law officers do take into account a variety of matters, not just the Sentencing Guidelines - including what other defendants have received in relation to similar offences.

"The circumstances of the particular case are taken into consideration."

There is no appeals process by which a decision reached by the Solicitor General can be contested.

What do you think? Email Hardeep Matharu on hmatharu@london.newsquest.co.uk.

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