Law failing rape victims, says QC

Rape victims' past sex lives are still being raked over in court too often, despite a change in the law designed to boost conviction rates, a leading lawyer has warned.

Just 5.3 per cent of rape allegations ended in a guilty verdict, according to the latest Home Office figures. And more than a third of cases sent to the Crown Court collapsed before the defendant reached the dock, often because victims were unable to face the ordeal of testifying.

The law was changed in 2000 to prevent women's sexual pasts being used to argue that they must have consented to have sex, after research showed that such details were often used to discredit victims. But Vera Baird QC, a Labour MP and leading criminal barrister, said a 'depressingly large' number of judges still considered sexual history relevant.

A report commissioned by the Home Office, due to be published this autumn, is expected to highlight concerns over the issue, while research conducted for the Criminal Bar Association found many judges furious at the change in the law.

'The concern was that the majority had been completely looking for ways round what the legislation said rather than complying with it,' Baird told The Observer. 'I am afraid that I think there are still huge issues about that. There may be proposals to revise this provision once we see the independent research.'

This week The Observer gives its backing to a campaign launched by Glamour magazine to raise conviction rates by training more specialist prosecutors, setting up a network of specialist 'safe haven' centres where victims can get medical help and support, and establishing a national 24-hour rape crisis line to help victims.

Conviction rates are thought to have risen slightly, to 5.8 per cent, following changes in the law introduced last year making it easier to prove a woman did not consent. But they are still lower than in the 1970s.

One theory is that they have fallen because of the increase in the number of so-called 'date rape' cases which are harder to prosecute.

A spokesman for the Home Office said it was 'determined' to close the gap between the number of reported rapes and the number of convictions secured.