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Attorney General's Office declines to review sentence of teenage rapist in Gloucestershire
Overview
The Attorney General's Office has decided not to review the suspended sentence given to Thomas Woodall, who was convicted of raping and sexually assaulting a girl at a Gloucestershire college when he was 16. Despite a request from the Crown Prosecution Service under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, the Solicitor General concluded that the high threshold for a gross error by the sentencing judge was not met.
Key points
- Thomas Woodall, now 19, was previously convicted of rape and sexual assault following a trial at Cirencester Courthouse.
- He was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court to a three-year custody sentence, suspended for two years, alongside 200 hours of unpaid work and £4,380 in costs.
- The Crown Prosecution Service requested a referral to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, but the request was rejected by the Attorney General's Office.
- The Attorney General's Office stated that the threshold for a referral requires a gross error or a sentence outside the available range, which was not met in this case.
- The survivor expressed disappointment with the court outcome but emphasised that the behaviour should not be normalised.