Man jailed for kissing 12-year-old girl (From Swindon Advertiser)

Man jailed for kissing 12-year-old girl

9:50pm Monday 13th February 2012 in News

A 61-year-old man who kissed and caressed a 12-year-old girl outside her home has been jailed for a year.

Peter Reynolds, of Moredon Park, had been spotted twice cavorting with the girl by her mother’s shocked carer, Gloucester Crown Court heard.

Reynolds denied sexually touching the girl on May 5 but was convicted by a jury last month.

Yesterday, his barrister Nick Fridd said Reynolds still denies his guilt but accepts that ‘boundaries were crossed’.

“He says he is sorry for what happened. He says ‘She wanted to mess about and I didn’t’,” said Mr Fridd.

The court heard that Reynolds had a conviction for five offences of a similar nature in 1968 but no further details of them are now available because of the passage of time.

Mr Fridd said Reynolds had no memory of the conviction.

Judge Michael Harington told Reynolds: “The community care worker who saw you kissing this girl when she was on her way to visit the girl’s mother was obviously very shocked.

“You are a man of 61 and she was a vulnerable girl, not just because of her age but because she has learning difficulties.”

At the start of last month’s trial the court was told that the girl had a mental age of only about six.

Her mother also had learning difficulties and needed help from a carer.