Swinton paedophile's sentence reduced

Shaun Simpson (48), was first sent to prison for two years in 1998 after he admitted four counts of indecent assault on a young girl.

However, a second victim was then too frightened to come forward because she feared that her father might take the law into his own hands.

She eventually contacted police years later when she became a mother herself.

As a result of her complaint, Simpson, of Hoylake Drive, Swinton, pleaded guilty to indecent assault at Sheffield Crown Court in May this year.

He received another two-year jail term.

At London's Court of Appeal, lawyers for Simpson successfully argued that the sentence was "manifestly excessive."

Top judges were told that Simpson would have got a shorter sentence if the matters had been dealt with together in 1998, and he had been given insufficient credit for his guilty plea.

Judge Anthony Scott-Gall, sitting with Lord Justice Elias and Mr Justice Nicol, said that it was unfortunate that Simpson had effectively been sentenced by "installments."

He cut the latest jail term to 18 months, observing that Simpson had not been in trouble since being released from the 1998 term.

However the judge rejected arguments that the prison sentence should have been suspended.

The court heard that Simpson's second victim was abused in the 1990s when she was under the age of ten.