Judges cut sentence for Shrewsbury sex attacker
A man who was jailed for molesting a woman while she slept on a sofa has had his sentence cut by top judges.
Mark Simpson, 28, was a guest in the woman's house when he assaulted her in 2014.
She had fallen asleep on her sofa and woke to find Simpson sexually assaulting her.
He immediately said he was 'sorry', but was jailed for five years and seven months after admitting the assault at Shrewsbury Crown Court last July.
But today, after an appeal by his lawyers, three top judges in London said the sentence was too long and cut it by more than a year.
Lord Justice Lloyd Jones, sitting with Mr Justice William Davis and Judge David Stockdale QC, said the correct term was four years and three months.
The Court of Appeal heard the victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had invited Simpson into her home. After being woken from her sleep by a sharp pain in her crotch, she found him near to her.
He said he was 'really sorry' and kept apologising after she had barricaded herself in another room.
Sentencing last August, Judge Jonathan Gosling said the victim had been 'particularly vulnerable' because she was asleep.
She had been humiliated by the attack, he told the crown court.
Lawyers for Simpson yesterday argued that the 'starting point' taken by the judge for sentence – before reduction to reward his guilty plea – was too high.
Giving judgment, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones said: "It seems to us that the starting point was too high to an extent which permits this court to intervene."
The sentence was reduced to four years and three months.
Simpson, of Whitchurch Road, Shrewsbury, watched his appeal via a video link from prison.
