A double rapist who was jailed for life could be out of prison by the end of 2007, after appeal judges cut his sentence.
The decision angered rape campaigners, who called for stronger laws for sex offences.
Andrew Holt, 42, was freed in 1995 after serving six years of an 11-year sentence for raping a 12-year-old girl he lured into woods in Beaumont Leys, in Leicester.
Four years later, Holt raped a 15-year-old at his flat in St Matthew’s, Leicester, and was jailed for life at Leicester Crown Court in 2000, after admitting the offence.
She was grabbed off the street, forced to strip, indecently assaulted and raped three times in an ordeal which lasted around an hour.
At the time, crown court judge Mr Justice Tuckers ruled that Holt, of Lethbridge Close, must serve a minimum nine-and-a-half-year jail term.
He branded Holt “a danger to young girls” and recommended he spend 20 years in prison.
Appeal Court judges, however, have slashed that minimum term to seven-and-a-half years after ruling the original sentence was excessive.
Today, the Rape Crisis Federation, which represents rape crisis centres across the country, said it was appalled.
A spokeswoman said: “Any woman out there hearing this will be shocked and horrified. The Court of Appeal does not seem to take rape seriously.
“In cases like this, where children have been raped, it seems that the only fitting sentence is life – which should mean life.” Lord Justice May, sitting with Mr Justice Nelson and Judge Peter Oppenshaw, were told details of the rape.
Lord Judge May said despite the aggravating features of the “quite appalling” offences, guideline cases showed that the Crown Court judge had taken too high a starting point when setting Holt’s sentence.
Allowing the appeal, Lord Justice May emphasised that this did not mean Holt would necessarily be granted parole when he first applied for it.
The life sentence meant he could be kept behind bars for as long as he was considered a public danger.
Beaumont Leys councillor Gordon Getliffe said: “Life should mean life for people who commit crimes like this.”
