[Z]

Call me cynical, but why are all these people so convinced that the judge is in the wrong here? He was in charge of the full facts, none of us were. If it was his judgment that the girl was sexually mature and was not in fact 'abused' in the traditional sense of the word then surely that ought to count for something? I was still a kid when I was 13 but my best friend hit puberty when he was 11 and he was definitely aware of it. Not every 13 year old is still a child, is my point, and while I think it's wrong that a 40-something year old man was taking advantage of her, some of the comments made in that article imply that the judge was being sexist or something. Do we even know if the girl herself came forward or if she was 'found out' by an adult (presumably a parent) and it was taken forward thusly?

A 15 year old girl I know was having regular sex with her 19 year old boyfriend, her parents found out and they took him to court and he was put on the register. Absolutely no one who knew her would have said she was being taken advantage of - they were both consenting and at the time were in a loving relationship. The law is there for a reason obviously but I think it's important that judges take into account the people involved in a case and don't just say "the law says you have to be this age so that is my judgment."

Obviously the judge could be guilty of the things people are accusing him of, but I'm not convinced that this is as outrageous as the press are spinning it to be.