Paedophile who had jail term cut stalked family

Alan Fairless was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court after pleading guilty to two counts of indecently assault and three of indecency with a child.

The 29-year-old was jailed for three years but judges at London's Appeal Court ruled the sentence was excessive and cut it to two years in November.

Fairless, of West Denton, Newcastle, who is on the sex offender register for life, was released on licence from Durham prison on December 13.

But within days he began to harass the family of his young victim, whom he had plied with alcohol before indecently assaulting when she was just 13.

The mum of the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she was disgusted his sentence had been cut.

She said: "The last few weeks have been unbearable. Neither me or my daughter have left the house alone since we heard he was hanging around in our area."

"The whole thing has just been a nightmare for us. We are both seeing psychiatrists to try and put the past behind us but this has brought it all up again.

"Things are so bad that the police have been taking me to the shops and they have installed a panic button in the house in case he showed up.

"I just hope the judges who cut his sentence realise that they made a big mistake and maybe this will stop them being so lenient in the future."

Northumbria Police confirmed that Fairless was arrested last week for breaching his licence conditions and was back behind bars in Durham jail to serve out his remaining sentence.

Fairless was released after just a year on licence after judges at the Court of Appeal in London decided he had not been given enough credit for his early guilty plea.

Mr Justice Davis, sitting with Lord Justice Rose, said: "It remains the case that he pleaded guilty at the earliest stage which is particularly important in offences of this kind. It is also right that he had no previous convictions."

But Mrs A added: "This man completely ruined my daughter's life."