An MSP has quit as SNP treasurer after he was arrested during a police investigation into party finances.
04.04.2023 - 15:23 / dailyrecord.co.uk
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has blasted “Progressive Scotland 2023” after a rapist who attacked a 13-year-old girl in a park was spared jail.
The Scots 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 Midlothian 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 the judge referring to new guidelines that make rehabilitation rather than punishment a primary consideration for under 25s.
Hogg, who raped his victim in Dalkeith Country Park in 2018, was also placed under supervision and put on the sex offenders register for three years.
Lord Lake said the victim’s age and vulnerabilities were “aggravating factors”, telling Hogg: “Prison does not lead me to believe this will contribute to your rehabilitation.”
The move sparked furious reaction from women’s rights groups and was described as “extraordinary” by a leading KC yesterday.
Jamie Klingler, who co-founded the Reclaim These Streets movement in response to the murder of Sarah Everard, compared the case to that of former Stanford University star swimmer Brock Turner - whose six-month sentence for sex crimes sparked national uproar in the US.
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An MSP has quit as SNP treasurer after he was arrested during a police investigation into party finances.
A Labour MP has apologised after mistakenly calling calling Scotland’s First Minister “Mohammad Yousaf”.
Police have launched a murder investigation after the death of a man in Glasgow.
A Scots man says he was left 'shaken' after coming home to find a snake while sitting on the toilet pan.
A cancer patient who fell ill with an infection which can cause deadly sepsis had her life saved by her sister's gut instinct.
a new “Harry Potter” TV series served as the climax of Warner Bros. Discovery’s presentation to press and investors on April 12 to tout the combination of HBO Max and Discovery+ into a new service dubbed simply Max. During a Q&A with press after the presentation, however, executives were less forthcoming about the involvement of the franchise’s creator, J.K. Rowling. The author, who will be an executive producer on the series, has become an increasingly controversial figure for repeatedly sharing views that trans women are not women, and trans men are not men. HBO and Max content chief Casey Bloys declined to comment on Rowling’s views when asked how they may affect the ability to find talent for the series.
With just over three weeks left to go until the Coronation of King Charles III, the glittering guest list is beginning to shape up nicely, with Prince Harry now officially confirmed to be attending the historic occasion. Buckingham Palace shared the news on Wednesday that the King’s youngest son would be attending the landmark occasion, although it also revealed that he would be attending alone, as his wife Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex had opted to stay at home with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
A frantic search has been launched to locate a Scots man who vanished two days ago.
A mum is finally to get a hip replacement op – thanks to the Sunday Mail – after waiting more than five years. Mother-of-six Joan Brown was first referred to a specialist in December 2017 by her GP but until last week was still to get a date for surgery.
A senior SNP MP has called for the party’s leadership election to be re-run after claims then-Chief Executive Peter Murrell shortened the race. Angus MacNeil is demanding a new ballot after Nicola Sturgeon’s husband was arrested as part of a fraud probe into party finances just nine days after the party’s 'preferred candidate' Humza Yousaf became First Minister.
A frantic search has been launched for a missing Scots man who has vanished from home.
A desperate search is underway to trace a missing man who vanished overnight.
Police have issued an appeal for witnesses to come forward after an elderly man was hit by a car as he used a walking frame to cross the road.
A rapist who attacked a 13-year-old girl on multiple occasions over four months has walked free from court. Sean Hogg pounced on the girl several times between March and June 2018 at a park just outside Edinburgh.
Police are urgently trying to trace a missing Scots man from Dundee as concern grows for his welfare.
A Scots mum has booked a magical cruise for her family after selling an old Harry Potter book for £20k.
A brave Scots mum says she feels completely “helpless” after three generations of her family have been ‘decimated’ by deadly brain tumours. Claire Cordiner tragically lost her mum Margaret O’Kane, 66, in October 2008 after she was diagnosed with a glioblastoma (GBM).
Police are hunting the driver of a car which flipped into a field in Fife after a road smash.
A cop has been charged after a gran who was struck by a marked police van in Motherwell died. Margaret McCarron was left fatally injured after being hit by the Transit van while walking on the town’s Merry Street on September 19, 2021.
A mum who endured a “barbaric” intimate procedure without pain relief has said she has never been through so much pain.