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Criminal Law (Amendment) (Protection of Property) Bill

My hon. Friend is right. Indeed, that was to have been my next point. How can we distinguish between the victim of a rape in a park who is allowed to use only reasonable force against her assailant and the victims of rape in other circumstances, inside a building that could be a public place, such as a tube station or a shopping centre—attacks have occurred in both—or the victim’s own home? In one case the victim would be allowed to use disproportionate force to defend herself, whereas if she was raped in a park, in an open space, she could not. That cannot be right. How can we explain to women what they can or cannot do to defend themselves if we have to say that it depends on where they are attacked? That is ludicrous.