@c5news: The only word that adequately describes people who bring rape cases to court is “hero”. A judge has paid tribute to a woman who was raped in a horrific roadside attack in 2003, calling her a “hero”, as he jailed her attacker for 21 years. Paul Quinn was sentenced on Friday - having earlier being found guilty of rape, strangulation and grievous bodily harm – for the crime that saw Andrew Malkinson wrongly serving 17 years. The now 60-year-old was released in 2020, and his conviction was quashed in 2023 after DNA evidence identified Quinn. In sentencing Quinn, Mr Justice Bright spoke of the “heroic” actions of the woman who had enduring an attack so violent she was lucky to have survived and then spent 23 years waiting for justice to be served. Mr Justice Bright said it has “troubled” him for a long time that the judicial system has “utterly inadequate terms” for the person to whom crime is done. “We use the word complainant,” but that sounds like someone complaining about a “trivial grievance”, he told the court, adding, “victim” sounds like someone “with no agency”. The terms, he says, are demeaning. People who take such cases to court, Mr Justice Bright said, have “gumption by the truckload”. Of those involved in rape proceedings, he said: “Every single one of them should be thanked and admired unstintingly by every single one of us.” Recalling their trauma, Mr Justice Bright said is an “undeniably uncomfortable process” and the only word that describes the people who do that are “hero”. Quinn was serve an additional three years on licence. #crime #police #justice

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Friday 05 June 2026 15:00:39 GMT