The old human rights act, so glad Cherie Blair got tony to sign us upto this worthless pile of brick
A foreigner rapes a woman, but cant be deported because he has a cat, magnificent statute
Colours to the mast - fiscally im right of centre, socially im left of centre (not all bend over backwards left, more "one big community" focused)
The problem with the Human Rights Act is not the act itself, it's that the spirit of the act has been abused and twisted to protect everything and anything. Which, in turn, makes it counter productive.
your example above is a prime example of the contradiction it can cause. clearly the right of the woman have been violated in that scenario.
the human rights act does do a lot of good also, however that does not make headlines.
(and that is something the UK needs to consider carefully if/when we get an in/out EU referendum - go with the facts, not the propoganda)
Now we all know that British less than salubrious past has caused the problem with a lot of people living in Britain (often UK citizens) whose social ideal is well out of kilter with that of the UK (as per the OP).
I do feel, however, that we need to stop being apologetic politically for our past and set laws and policy to manage our present and future.
For example - residency of 10(?) years post entry in the country as a permanent resident and confirmation of UK citizenship before you can invite a non EU citizen/resident into the UK
That policy goes slightly against my belief structure, however any political belief structure needs to address how people will use the system. (something the Human Rights failed to do by leaving itself too open to abuse)