Paedophile back living in region after serving just a third of sentence
MAN WAS JAILED FOR MOLESTING CHILD
A MAN jailed for molesting a child in a barn is back on East Yorkshire’s streets after serving just three-and-a-half years of a ten-year sentence.
Stephen Jewitt, 56, was originally sentenced to ten years at Hull Crown Court in April 2018 after being convicted of assaulting the ten-year-old boy more 30 years ago in a barn in East Yorkshire.
The court heard how Jewitt, of Hutton Cranswick, had been a teenager when he committed the crime, and was convicted of indecency with a child and a second serious sexual offence.
But six months after being locked up, he successfully appealed his sentence and got it reduced to seven years.
The Court of Appeal reduced the sentence on the grounds the victim had not been groomed before the abuse, as well as taking into account his own young age when it happened.
He was released on licence on Friday after serving half the reduced sentence, Hull Live understands.
A source said: “The fact he can go back to the village where the crime was committed is just completely unfair.
“He’s been given an easy ride and can go back to sponging off his elderly father.
“Considering what he did, three-and-a-half years isn’t very long.”
Following Jewitt’s original trial in 2018, the victim told the court how the crimes had a “profound impact” on him which led to problems with heavy drinking, gambling and mood swings.
Prosecutor John Thackray had told how the victim did not report the abuse until 2016 because his mother lived in the area and he “did not want to cause her any embarrassment”.
When he did come forward, he had forgotten the name of his abuser, but could say he was “connected to a barn where it took place” in the East Riding. He then gave a description of the attacker.
Jewitt had told the court it was somebody else who committed the offence and that he had been the victim of mistaken identity, although a jury saw through his lies and convicted him.
Speaking following Jewitt’s release on Friday, the source added: “It just doesn’t seem fair he can just return and carry on as if nothing happened.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice confirmed Jewitt has been released.