A man who was found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl has had his conviction overturned.
The case of Sean Hogg, 22, sparked a public outcry when he was spared jail after being found guilty of raping a schoolgirl at Dalkeith Country Park in Midlothian on various occasions between March and June 2018.
Mr Hogg, who was 17 at the time of the alleged attacks, was handed a community payback order with 270 hours of unpaid work in light of sentencing guidelines for under-25s.
At the time, Rape Crisis Scotland branded the sentence “worryingly lenient”.
Scotland’s Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC, subsequently instructed the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to appeal the sentence on the grounds it was “unduly lenient”.
At the Court of Criminal Appeal hearing in Edinburgh last month, Mr Hogg’s defence team argued that the conviction should be quashed on the grounds that Lord Lake had misdirected the jury.
Solicitor general Ruth Charteris KC admitted that “mistakes were made at the trial”, but argued the jury still had enough evidence for Mr Hogg to be convicted of raping the girl on one occasion.
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On Wednesday, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service confirmed: “The appeal against conviction has been upheld.”
The opinion of the court is expected to be published online later in the day.
