Barbara Hewson called for the age of consent to be lowered to 13 at the height of the Jimmy Savile scandal PETER NICHOLLS FOR THE TIMESA prominent barrister who proposed a drastic cut to the age of sexual consent was at the centre of another controversy yesterday after she called an anti-paedophile campaigner “brain damaged”. Barbara Hewson, a human rights lawyer who called for the age of consent to be lowered to 13 amid the Jimmy Savile revelations, was accused of gross insensitivity in a social media exchange about Sara Payne, whose daughter, Sarah, was murdered 18 years ago. In a recent tweet referring to Ms Payne and Shy Keenan, a fellow campaigner against child sex, Ms Hewson, 56, is alleged to have said: “A wicked crusade by Shy and her brain-damaged cohort, Sara.”Ms Payne, 49, suffered a stroke eight years ago, which has left her partially paralysed.

Source: The Times May 27, 2018 23:07 UTC