2Length of imprisonment for certain offences against young girls.
(1)The maximum term of imprisonment to which a person is liable under the [4 & 5 Eliz. 2. c. 69.] Sexual Offences Act, 1956, if convicted on indictment of an attempt to have unlawful sexual intercourse With a girl under the age of thirteen, or of an indecent assault on a girl who is stated in the indictment and proved to have been at the time under that age,—
(a)in the case of such an attempt, shall be seven years; and
(b)in the case of an indecent assault, shall be five years,
(2)In the case of a person convicted of attempted incest with a girl who is stated in the indictment and proved to have been at the time under the age of thirteen the foregoing subsection shall apply as it applies in the case of a person convicted of an attempt to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under that age.
(3)Accordingly in the Second Schedule to that Act, for the words " two years " in the third column in items 2 (b), 14 (b) and 17 (i), there shall be substituted—
(a)in item 2 (b) the words " seven years ";
(b)in item 14 (b) the words " if with a girl under thirteen who is stated to have been so in the indictment, seven years; otherwise two years";
(c)in item 17 (i) the words " if on a girl under thirteen who is stated to have been so in the indictment, five years; otherwise two years ".
(4)This section shall not apply to offences committed on or before the date this Act is passed.