JUDGES REDUCE SENTENCE FOR STEPHEN REYNOLDS, PAEDOPHILE IN SWINDON

In July 2011, top judges reduced the prison sentence for Stephen Reynolds, a convicted paedophile involved in a public sex assault on a five-year-old girl in Swindon. Reynolds, aged 53, was caught on CCTV as he targeted the young girl in an aisle of the 99p Store in Swindon on New Year’s Eve. He seized the opportunity when the child was alone without her mother. Following his admission of sexual assault and breach of a sex offences prevention order (Sopo), he was initially sentenced to six years at Swindon Crown Court in February.

However, after an appeal by his legal team, the Court of Appeal yesterday reduced his custodial sentence to four-and-a-half years. Upon release, Reynolds from Swindon, previously residing in Lechlade in the Cotswolds, will face an additional six years of strict licence conditions. Mr Justice Holroyde noted that Reynolds had previously been subject to a sexual offences prevention order, which forbade him from contacting children, following an offence of attempted voyeurism.

Reynolds’s crime was also reported in February 2011, when he was jailed for six years after admitting to sexually touching the five-year-old girl in a Swindon shop. Reynolds also confessed to breaching his sexual offences order. During the incident, he lured the child to a quiet corner at the back of the shop, out of CCTV’s view, while her mother was shopping nearby. Reynolds was already known to police due to prior offences, including attempting to photograph girls in the changing rooms at the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon.

The court heard that Reynolds approached the girl and her younger sister while their mother was momentarily distracted. CCTV footage from the nearby Brunel shopping centre captured Reynolds watching the girls for about 20 minutes before the assault. Prosecutor Tony Nowogrodzki described that Reynolds took an item from a shelf, crouched to speak to the girl, who then moved away. In police interviews, the girl explained that Reynolds had asked her to move further back into the shop, where he sexually assaulted her.

Eight individuals identified Reynolds from CCTV images, including a public protection officer responsible for preventing reoffending. This officer had been assigned after Reynolds was registered as a sex offender following earlier offences in 2007. Once he serves his sentence, Reynolds is set to be under an extended licence for another 12 years.