<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=629 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>Falconer backs judges in jail row

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The judge acted in accordance with guidelines in sentencing Sweeney


<!-- S IMED -->Lord Falconer
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IBOX --><!-- S SF -->It is wrong that judges have become the "whipping boys" over flaws in the sentencing system, Lord Falconer says.
The lord chancellor said it was important to "work together" to solve problems which had resulted from 30 years of laws from all parties.
His comments came after Home Secretary John Reid denounced a sentence that could see a paedophile released in five years despite being given a life term.
The Home Office has also vowed to strengthen laws on prisoner releases. <!-- E SF -->
'Extremely careful'
The move came after it emerged that 53 people given life sentences had been freed since 2000 after serving fewer than six years in jail.
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If we attack the judges, we attack an incredibly important part of the system when it is not their fault


Lord Falconer



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Lord Falconer told BBC One's Question Time: "We need to be extremely careful that we don't attack the judges on these issues where it is the system, and it's not one or other political party, it's 30 years of statutes that have led to this.
"We need to be very, very careful to ensure we work together to reach a solution.
"I think the difficulty in relation to it is the whipping boys for this have become the judges and that is completely wrong.
"If we attack the judges, we attack an incredibly important part of the system when it is not their fault."
Referring to the case of paedophile Craig Sweeney - who was jailed for life at Cardiff Crown Court this week but could be released in five years because he pleaded guilty - he added: "Everybody agrees the sentence isn't what we wanted but it wasn't the judge's fault."
Commons clash
Judge John Griffith Williams QC was acting in accordance with guidelines when he sentenced Sweeney, 24, at Cardiff Crown Court, who had admitted kidnapping and sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl.
<!-- S IBOX --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5></TD><TD class=sibtbg> Public confidence is vital to the operation of the criminal justice system


Lib Dem MP Nick Clegg



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Asked if the home secretary was right to openly criticise the judge, Lord Falconer replied: "It is a matter for the attorney general to decide. He is making it clear it is not a political decision to decide to refer to the court of appeal."
Earlier, in a fierce Commons clash with Tony Blair, Tory leader David Cameron said: "In the last 40 days the new home secretary has been hard at work.
"He has potentially undermined his department's own deportation proceedings, he's shelved his own anti-crime campaign at the last minute, he's misled the public over the employment of illegal immigrants in his own department and now he has criticised judges for their implementation of new Labour law."
'Talk tough'
The prime minister rubbished Mr Cameron's claims, saying that when the "Criminal Justice Act came before this House, the Conservative Party voted against it".
The Tories "talk tough in the media, they vote soft in Parliament", he said.
Monmouth Tory MP David Davies whose questions had revealed the release of the 53 lifers, said: "Members of the public are being led to believe that once caught and found guilty, these criminals are being sent to prison to serve out the whole of their sentence. They are being misled."
A Home Office spokesman said the most common offence represented among the 53 was grievous bodily harm and that 500 people a year had received life sentences since 2000. Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said: "Public confidence is vital to the operation of the criminal justice system, and releasing inappropriate prisoners could be another blow to an already beleaguered system."<!-- E BO -->


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5081770.stm