A date has been set for a Court of Appeal hearing into an "unduly lenient" sentence handed to a paedophile by controversial Oxford judge Julian Hall.

Callum Witheridge 18, formerly of Glyme Drive, Berinsfield, walked free from court in January after he was convicted of molesting a five-year-old girl.

Witheridge - whom the Oxford Mail was banned from naming until he turned 18 - had also abused a seven-year-old boy, but Judge Hall handed him a three-year supervision order and banned him from contacting children via text message, the Internet or telephone for 10 years.

The victim's relatives and child protection agencies subsequently hit out at the "slap on the wrist sentence", and appealed to Solicitor General Vera Baird to ask for a custodial sentence.

On Wednesday, Ms Baird will attempt to persuade senior judges that the sentence should be increased on the grounds that it is "unduly lenient". The hearing will be the second time the Court of Appeal has listened to pleas to increase an "unduly lenient" sentence handed to a sex offender by Judge Hall.

In October last year, a two-year sentence handed to child rapist Keith Fenn by Judge Hall was doubled by the court.