CAUTIONS must not be given to people for serious offences, Banbury MP Sir Tony Baldry told a minister in the Commons.

The Conservative told police and criminal justice minister Damian Green on Tuesday: “There are some offences for which the use of a caution is simply not appropriate.”

In April the Oxford Mail reported that rapists, robbers, arsonists and sex offenders were among those given 15,466 cautions between April 2006 and April 2012.

Mr Green said a Government review had concluded cautions – after a person admits guilt – should not be for most serious offences, those that can be tried only at Crown Court.