A paedophile has been jailed for nine years after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl.

Stephen Shepherd, 60, was on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with three counts of assaulting a child under 13 by touching and two counts of assaulting a child under 13 by penetration.

It was alleged that the offences, including touching her chest and digital penetration, took place between 2021 and 2022 against a young girl who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Shepherd, of Perry's Road, Stanford in the Vale, near Faringdon, denied the offences.

He was sentenced on Friday, October 25 at Oxford Crown Court to nine years in prison.

He also received a sexual harm prevention order – until further ordered with no unsupervised contact with any child under 16.

The court heard he must also go on the police register indefinitely. 

READ MORE: Scales of Justice results from Oxford Magistrates' Court

On Friday, August 30, he was found guilty of all counts and was remanded in custody.

During the trial opening on Tuesday, August 27, it was heard Shepherd was accused of touching the young girl indecently on at least seven occasions when she was aged between six and seven years old.

The allegations included Shepherd reportedly putting the girl’s hand on his penis, touching her chest, and digitally penetrating her.

Opening the case, the prosecuting barrister said: “The matters came to light when [the girl] said she was feeling unwell in October 2022.

“Her mother asked her if there was anything she could do to help her, she said she could rub butter on her chest like [Shepherd] does.

“[Her mother] was extremely shocked. [The girl] spoke to her sister and she told her about the allegations, describing how she had sat on [Shepherd’s] lap and saw her rocket ship.

“Her sister thought her sister was talking about [Shepherd’s] erect penis.

“[Her mother] did call the police about the allegations and they did speak to [the girl] about them. She set out how [Shepherd] made her touch him…he did it on numerous occasions.”

Shepherd took part in a voluntary police interview in late 2022 where he told police it is unlikely she had even accidentally seen him naked.

Shepherd said: “A couple of years ago there was a time when I was using the toilet and [she] opened the toilet door when I was having a wee.

“I doubt [she] saw anything, I was fully dressed.”

The 12-strong jury heard that the girl’s evidence was video recorded due to her age as was her cross-examination.

They were warned that they would only be shown her video-recorded evidence once as they would with a witness giving evidence in court.

Help support trusted local news 

Sign up for a digital subscription now: https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe/

As a digital subscriber you will get:      

  • Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website   
  • Advert-light access       
  • Reader rewards       
  • Full access to our app

About the author  

Toby is a senior reporter who has a particular interest in covering planning and local government. 

He joined in September 2024 having been a reporter at the Hampshire Chronicle for three years. 

Toby studied at the University of Brighton and can be found on X through the handle @JournoToby