Babysitter rapists await jail term ruling.

Two babysitters who raped and sexually assaulted a 12-week-old girl will find out later if their jail terms are being increased.

Alan Webster, 40, from Hatfield in Hertfordshire, is serving a minimum six-year term while his co-accused Tanya French, 19, also from Hatfield, was imprisoned for five years.

A panel of five senior judges, headed by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord
Phillips, will decide of the sentences were "unduly lenient".

The judges have been urged to raise the length of the original sentences by the Government's senior law officer, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith QC.

Lord Goldsmith said at a recent hearing that the crimes committed by
Webster and French had "shocked and outraged public opinion".

Webster, 40, and French, 19, of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, raped and indecently assaulted the baby and took photographs of the horrific abuse.

Webster was jailed for life in January after pleading guilty to rape, indecent assault, permitting indecent images to be taken of a child and making indecent images.

A judge at St Albans Crown Court set a minimum term of six years in Webster's case - meaning he must serve at least that amount of time behind bars before he can be considered for parole.

French was jailed for five years and given an extended licence period of five years after admitting the same charges.

The baby's mother has described the sentences given to the pair as a
"joke". She was unaware of the abuse until detectives visited her after
finding photographs detailing the horrific abuse at Webster's home.

Webster, described as "evil and depraved", also pleaded guilty to a
separate charge of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

Lord Goldsmith said he was asking the court to review sentences imposed for "offences of the gravest depravity against an innocent defenceless baby and another young girl".

The teenage victim and the baby's family were in court for the
hearing.

Lord Goldsmith said the cases of Webster and French were
"exceptional in the nature of what took place and their depravity".

He told the judges: "You may think that, having seen the photographs, that what took place was almost beyond comprehension.

"The acts of those two offenders will have done incalculable damage to the baby and her mother".