Judge blasts Blair plan to overhaul rape laws

Tony Blair's legal reforms to increase rape convictions and deliver more direct justice have come under fire from judges and magistrates.

The Council of Circuit Judges is reported to have dismissed plans to overhaul rape laws as over-complicated, including a new definition of capacity to consent to intercourse which would mean that a woman could be considered too drunk to have made a decision.

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Other measures include allowing experts to tell the jury how rape victims are likely to act and showing jurors videotapes of the victim's first interview with police.

Ministers are determined to increase the conviction rate for rape which has fallen from 33 per cent in 1977, when fewer cases are believed to have been reported, to just over five per cent in 2004.

Meanwhile, the Magistrates'Association has sent a dossier to Mr Blair raising concerns that offenders are being given more fixed penalties and cautions, rather than going through the justice system because of a cash crisis.

Magistrates stressed that court closures and staff shortages have left the system debilitated.