Crown Office says ‘mistakes were made’ after child rapist spared jail

The Crown Office has said that mistakes were made in the trial of Sean Hogg who raped a teenager, after he avoided jail due to his age.

Sean Hogg aged 22, was found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl numerous times including in Dalkeith Park Midlothian in 2018.

The Judge, Lord Lake, told The High Court in Glasgow that Hogg would be spared jail and given unpaid work instead.

Lord Lake did however say if Hogg had been over 25, he would have been sentenced to four or five years in prison.

The Crown Office was planning to challenge the sentence which they called “unduly lenient". 

But now, Scotland’s senior judges will decide whether the conviction will be quashed because of legal errors which could make the conviction 'unsafe'.

Aamer Anwar, the solicitor who represented the complainant, says that his client “had told the truth”.

Their decision will be revealed in due course.