TWO out of three people who appear in North Yorkshire courts charged with rape are never convicted, according to Government figures released this week.

Only 21 of the 62 defendants (34 per cent) who appeared before magistrates in the county charged with rape were found guilty in 2002.

But the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is responsible for bringing alleged offenders before the courts, insists that new legislation and specialist rape prosecutors are turning the statistics around.

The Government has launched new rules to improve the way the CPS handles rape cases, as ministers are anxious to boost conviction rates to encourage more victims to report their ordeals.

Solicitor General Harriet Harman said: "Rape is still less likely to be reported, less likely to result in a charge and less likely to be prosecuted than other serious crimes."

According to newly-released Home Office figures, 62 people appeared before North Yorkshire magistrates on rape charges in 2002. Because rape is a serious offence, defendants were sent automatically for trial at crown court.

But between magistrates and crown court, 44 cases were dropped, usually because of a lack of evidence or because the victim dropped out. This meant that only 18 defendants appeared before crown court.

Of these, three (17 per cent) pleaded guilty and were sentenced. Of the 15 defendants who denied the crime and stood trial before a jury eight (46 per cent) were found not guilty and walked free.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire CPS said: "Rape is a very sensitive offence and these figures do not reflect some of the issues surrounding prosecutions, such as the vulnerability of victims.

"North Yorkshire CPS has specialist lawyers dedicated to the prosecution of rape cases, and is actively prosecuting cases under the 2003 Sexual Offences Act which came into force in May, and includes stronger measures to secure rape convictions and protect victims."

Jim Pewtress, of Victim Support North Yorkshire, said: "When rape cases are not successful the victims feel that they have not been believed when they know what has happened to them.

"Often their private lives are made public in order to discredit them, which is very distressing. This can only discourage others from coming forward. They feel let down by the CPS, police and other agencies."

Nationally, there were 11,441 rapes reported in 2002, but there were only 992 trials, with 700 convictions.

Updated: 10:53 Monday, July 05, 2004