Men given longer sentences for gang-rape attack

Two young men involved in the gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl who was doused in caustic soda at the end of her "nightmare ordeal" had their sentences increased by the Court of Appeal today.

Three judges in London ruled that the terms being served by Rogel McMorris, 18, and Jason Brew, 19, who were jailed at London's Wood Green Crown Court on January 19, were "unduly lenient".

Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, sitting with Mr Justice Simon and Mr Justice Blair, increased the term imposed in the case of Jamaican-born McMorris, of Antill Road, Tottenham, north London, who was convicted of two rape counts and one of causing grievous bodily harm, from nine years to 14 years.

Co-defendant Brew, of High Cross Road, Haringey, north London, who was found guilty of one charge of rape, had his six-year sentence raised to nine years.

The judges decided not to increase the sentence imposed on Angolan immigrant Hector Muaimba, 21, of Guildford Road, Waltham Forest, east London, who was also found guilty of one charge of rape.

He was sentenced to six years for the attack and is serving an additional two years for a separate Old Bailey conviction for robbery.

Their cases were referred to the Court of Appeal by Attorney General Baroness Scotland, to determine whether they should have been given longer sentences.

The victim, who had a mental age of just eight, was disfigured for life in the attack in Tottenham, north London.

Lord Judge said it was a "horrifying" case.