Young Scots men are effectively being told first time's free

JK Rowling leads fury after man is spared jail for raping 13-year-old girl in park

- SALLY HIND

HARRY Potter author JK Rowling yesterday blasted "Progressive Scotland 2023" after a man was spared jail for raping a 13-year-old girl in a park.

The writer joined campaigners and politicians in condemning the sentencing of Sean Hogg, 21, who was handed a community payback order for attacking the girl in a park on various occasions when he was 17.

Rowling tweeted: "Progressive Scotland 2023, where a man gets no jail time for raping a 13-year-old girl in a park. Young Scottish men are effectively being told, 'First time's free." First Minister Humza Yousaf said he understood the "astonishment" over the case but could not intervene.

Sentencing a weeping Hogg at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday, judge Lord Lake said if the offence had been committed by an adult over 25, he would have received a jail sentence of four or five years.

Instead Hogg was handed 270 hours of unpaid work, with Lord Lake referring to new guidelines that make rehabilitation rather than punishment a primary consideration for under-25s.