A CONVICTED Polish armed robber who raped a suicidal Colchester teenager has had his indeterminate jail sentence quashed – because the crime was not “serious enough”.

In October, Slawomir Blasiak, 44, of Sittang Close, Colchester, was jailed for public protection for the horrific crime after being convicted of rape at Basildon Crown Court.

The open-ended sentence meant Blasiak would have remained behind bars until the Parole Board deemed he was no longer a danger to the public.

But judges sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court yesterday quashed the “draconian” sentence, and replaced it with a conventional eight-year jail term – of which he will serve just half before becoming eligible for automatic release.

An appeal against Blasiak’s conviction was, however, dismissed.

Rape charity Colchester’s Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse has hit out at the ruling.

His victim had mental health problems and was sitting at the top of Vineyard Street car park, in Colchester, in May 2008, when Blasiak came across her.

The pair had a brief conversation before he raped her. He was caught after CCTV footage showed him walking to and from the car park, his DNA was found on the victim’s clothing and her DNA was discovered on a pair of his trousers.

Blasiak’s lawyers argued his conviction was “unsafe”, saying the crown court judge should have thrown the case out due to a lack of evidence.

They also argued his sentence was “excessive” and said the judge had no reason, other than the circumstances of the rape, to conclude Blasiak was a “dangerous” offender.

Dismissing the challenge to the conviction, Lord Justice Gross, sitting with Mr Justice Butterfield and Mr Justice Roderick Evans, said the trial judge was right to leave the case for the jury to decide and the verdict was not “unsafe”.

But he allowed the appeal against the sentence, saying there was “no sufficient basis” for the judge to hand Blasiak the indeterminate jail term.

He concluded: “An indeterminate sentence for public protection has rightly been described as draconian and is a measure of last resort.

“We are not satisfied the criteria of dangerousness was met.”