Two men who had sex with a pair of 14-year-old girls after giving them alcohol and amphetamines have been spared jail as it was “consensual”.
Lee Pollard and Mark Allen, both of whom are 26, received suspended sentences for engaging in sexual activity with someone under the age of 16.
The two girls, who have not been named, went to visit a friend’s sister’s flat in Devon.
They were “messing around in bikinis” and drinking alcohol, when Pollard and Allen turned up with more drinks and amphetamines, Exeter Crown and Country Court was told.
The visit soon descended into an "orgy" and the judge said the girls “must accept a degree of responsibility” because they were “almost naked” when the men arrived and the sex was “consensual”, the Daily Mail reported.
“They must accept a degree, and I underline the word degree, of responsibility for how this evening worked out," Judge Graham Cottle said.
“It would be quite wrong to see these sentences as any sort of criticism of the girls or condoning of your actions.”
But the mother of one of the girls expressed that she was "horrified" by the judgement.
“My daughter went out expecting to be in the company of females, she had no idea these men would turn up,” she said.
“I very much doubt she would have gone if she thought that was the case.
“She was not in a fit state to consent to anything and I'm appalled that the judge has deemed this to be possible.”
Pollard and Allen were both given 15-month prison sentences, suspended for two years and were ordered to go on a sex offenders' rehabilitation course.
Allen was also given 125 hours of unpaid community work.
