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Woman judge slams drunk rape victims because juries can't convict when women can't remember anything about the attack
Judge Mary Jane Mowat, 66, gives controversial interview as she retires
Says rape conviction rate will only improve when women 'stop getting drunk'
Oxford-educated circuit judge says she knows she'll be 'pilloried' for view
Rape crisis workers say such 'victim-blaming' is behind low conviction rate
Oxford Rape Crisis manager calls comments 'outrageous and dangerous'
By Harriet Arkell For Mailonline
Published: 14:03, 26 August 2014 | Updated: 16:03, 26 August 2014
Retiring judge Mary Jane Mowat, 66, said the rape conviction rate would not improve 'until women stop getting so drunk'
A woman judge who criticised rape victims for drinking too much has been denounced for making 'outrageous' and 'frankly dangerous' comments.
Judge Mary Jane Mowat, 66, said that the rape conviction rate would not improve 'until women stop getting so drunk'.
In an interview that coincided with her retirement after 18 years as a circuit judge in Oxford and Reading, Judge Mowat said she had presided over back-to-back rape trials where the victim had been so drunk, she couldn't remember what had happened.
The Oxford-educated judge, who said she expected to be 'pilloried' for her views, appeared to blame women for the low rates of conviction in rape cases.
However, she claimed the national rape conviction rate after trial of 60 per cent was partly 'inevitable' due to the lack of corroborative evidence.
Locally, at Oxford, where she sat until retirement earlier this month, just 24 per cent of rape trials resulted in conviction.
'It is an inevitable fact of it being one person's word against another and the burden of proof being that you have to be sure before you convict,' said the 66-year-old.
'I will also say and I will be pilloried for saying so, but the rape conviction statistics will not improve until women stop getting so drunk.
'I'm not saying it's right to rape a drunken woman, I'm not saying for a moment that it's allowable to take advantage of a drunken woman.
'But a jury in a position where they've got a woman who says "I was absolutely off my head, I can't really remember what I was doing, I can't remember what I said, I can't remember if I consented or not but I know I wouldn't have done".
More...
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'It is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that child victims suffered': 1,400 children were sexually exploited in just one town over 16-year period, report reveals
'I mean when a jury is faced with something like that, how are they supposed to react?'
Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre service manager Natalie Brook said rape convictions would improve when society stopped blaming women.
'Suggesting that rape conviction statistics will not improve until women stop getting so drunk is an outrageous, misguided and frankly dangerous statement to make,' she said.
'Rape convictions will improve when those who perpetrate it, who are disproportionately male, stop raping and when society stops blaming women for somehow being complicit in this act of violence.
'Rape is 100 per cent the fault of the perpetrator and suggesting otherwise serves only to feed myths that do nothing other than deter women from reporting this crime or accessing the support they need.
Judge Mowat, who sat at Oxford Crown Court, pictured, during her 18 years as a circuit judge, told the Oxford Mail that she sat in back-to-back rape trials where the victim was too drunk to remember what had happened
+2
Judge Mowat, who sat at Oxford Crown Court, pictured, during her 18 years as a circuit judge, told the Oxford Mail that she sat in back-to-back rape trials where the victim was too drunk to remember what had happened
'Eighty five thousand women are raped every year in England and Wales and the majority of rapes are committed by partners.
'Yet only 15 per cent of those who experience rape will report to the police.
'With victim-blaming attitudes like those displayed by Judge Mowat it is no surprise that conviction rates remain so low.'
Last August, prosecutor Robert Colover agreed to resign from the Crown Prosecution Service's rape panel after he branded a 13-year-old who had been abused by a 41-year-old man as 'predatory'.
Earlier this month the Department of Health was criticised after refusing to apologise for a series of posters which suggested that rape was the fault of the victim.
The 'Know Your Limits' posters, which were produced between 2005 and 2007 but are still displayed in some surgeries and clinics, said 'One in three reported rapes happens when the victim has been drinking'.
After a Nottingham-based blogger alerted Cambridge University student Jack May to the posters, May launched a campaign to have the posters taken down, but the government refused to comply, saying the campaign was old.
PAST CONTROVERSIES IN JUDGE MOWAT'S YEARS AS A CIRCUIT JUDGE
Three years ago, Judge Mowat let a paedophile teacher walk free after telling him she didn't criticise him for being attracted to children.
Supply teacher David Armstrong had admitted hoarding more than 4,500 indecent images of children.
But handing the 63-year-old pervert a suspended sentence, Judge Mary Jane Mowat said: 'I don’t criticise you for being a teacher who's attracted to children.
'Many teachers are, but they keep their urges under control both when it comes to children and when it comes to images of children.'
In 2008, Judge Mowat allowed a former headmaster to walk free from court after he said drugs he was taking for Parkinson's disease made him a paedophile.
Phillip Carmichael said the medication he was taking made him 'hypersexually active' after he was caught with 8,000 images and videos on his computer.
The judge said the case was 'wholly exceptional' and gave him an absolute discharge.
Two years earlier, after paedophile Robert Prout was convicted of abusing a 12-year-old girl, the judge admitted she would normally give a suspended sentence but recent public criticism influenced her decision to jail him for ten months.
Woman judge slams drunk rape victims because juries can't convict when women can't remember anything about the attack
Judge Mary Jane Mowat, 66, gives controversial interview as she retires
Says rape conviction rate will only improve when women 'stop getting drunk'
Oxford-educated circuit judge says she knows she'll be 'pilloried' for view
Rape crisis workers say such 'victim-blaming' is behind low conviction rate
Oxford Rape Crisis manager calls comments 'outrageous and dangerous'
By Harriet Arkell For Mailonline
Published: 14:03, 26 August 2014 | Updated: 16:03, 26 August 2014
Retiring judge Mary Jane Mowat, 66, said the rape conviction rate would not improve 'until women stop getting so drunk'
A woman judge who criticised rape victims for drinking too much has been denounced for making 'outrageous' and 'frankly dangerous' comments.
Judge Mary Jane Mowat, 66, said that the rape conviction rate would not improve 'until women stop getting so drunk'.
In an interview that coincided with her retirement after 18 years as a circuit judge in Oxford and Reading, Judge Mowat said she had presided over back-to-back rape trials where the victim had been so drunk, she couldn't remember what had happened.
The Oxford-educated judge, who said she expected to be 'pilloried' for her views, appeared to blame women for the low rates of conviction in rape cases.
However, she claimed the national rape conviction rate after trial of 60 per cent was partly 'inevitable' due to the lack of corroborative evidence.
Locally, at Oxford, where she sat until retirement earlier this month, just 24 per cent of rape trials resulted in conviction.
'It is an inevitable fact of it being one person's word against another and the burden of proof being that you have to be sure before you convict,' said the 66-year-old.
'I will also say and I will be pilloried for saying so, but the rape conviction statistics will not improve until women stop getting so drunk.
'I'm not saying it's right to rape a drunken woman, I'm not saying for a moment that it's allowable to take advantage of a drunken woman.
'But a jury in a position where they've got a woman who says "I was absolutely off my head, I can't really remember what I was doing, I can't remember what I said, I can't remember if I consented or not but I know I wouldn't have done".
More...
Husbands who tell their wives they're fat may be guilty of domestic abuse, says Labour shadow minister
'It is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that child victims suffered': 1,400 children were sexually exploited in just one town over 16-year period, report reveals
'I mean when a jury is faced with something like that, how are they supposed to react?'
Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre service manager Natalie Brook said rape convictions would improve when society stopped blaming women.
'Suggesting that rape conviction statistics will not improve until women stop getting so drunk is an outrageous, misguided and frankly dangerous statement to make,' she said.
'Rape convictions will improve when those who perpetrate it, who are disproportionately male, stop raping and when society stops blaming women for somehow being complicit in this act of violence.
'Rape is 100 per cent the fault of the perpetrator and suggesting otherwise serves only to feed myths that do nothing other than deter women from reporting this crime or accessing the support they need.
Judge Mowat, who sat at Oxford Crown Court, pictured, during her 18 years as a circuit judge, told the Oxford Mail that she sat in back-to-back rape trials where the victim was too drunk to remember what had happened
+2
Judge Mowat, who sat at Oxford Crown Court, pictured, during her 18 years as a circuit judge, told the Oxford Mail that she sat in back-to-back rape trials where the victim was too drunk to remember what had happened
'Eighty five thousand women are raped every year in England and Wales and the majority of rapes are committed by partners.
'Yet only 15 per cent of those who experience rape will report to the police.
'With victim-blaming attitudes like those displayed by Judge Mowat it is no surprise that conviction rates remain so low.'
Last August, prosecutor Robert Colover agreed to resign from the Crown Prosecution Service's rape panel after he branded a 13-year-old who had been abused by a 41-year-old man as 'predatory'.
Earlier this month the Department of Health was criticised after refusing to apologise for a series of posters which suggested that rape was the fault of the victim.
The 'Know Your Limits' posters, which were produced between 2005 and 2007 but are still displayed in some surgeries and clinics, said 'One in three reported rapes happens when the victim has been drinking'.
After a Nottingham-based blogger alerted Cambridge University student Jack May to the posters, May launched a campaign to have the posters taken down, but the government refused to comply, saying the campaign was old.
PAST CONTROVERSIES IN JUDGE MOWAT'S YEARS AS A CIRCUIT JUDGE
Three years ago, Judge Mowat let a paedophile teacher walk free after telling him she didn't criticise him for being attracted to children.
Supply teacher David Armstrong had admitted hoarding more than 4,500 indecent images of children.
But handing the 63-year-old pervert a suspended sentence, Judge Mary Jane Mowat said: 'I don’t criticise you for being a teacher who's attracted to children.
'Many teachers are, but they keep their urges under control both when it comes to children and when it comes to images of children.'
In 2008, Judge Mowat allowed a former headmaster to walk free from court after he said drugs he was taking for Parkinson's disease made him a paedophile.
Phillip Carmichael said the medication he was taking made him 'hypersexually active' after he was caught with 8,000 images and videos on his computer.
The judge said the case was 'wholly exceptional' and gave him an absolute discharge.
Two years earlier, after paedophile Robert Prout was convicted of abusing a 12-year-old girl, the judge admitted she would normally give a suspended sentence but recent public criticism influenced her decision to jail him for ten months.
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