'Horrific' man, 42, who raped young girl multiple times jailed for over 19 years
Anthony Reynolds was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court on Monday.
A man who raped a young girl multiple times over a sustained period of time has been jailed for more than 19 years.
Anthony Reynolds, 42, was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court on Monday. He admitted two counts of rape of a child under 13, with one of these counts relating to no fewer than 10 rapes, and also one count of rape of a child over 13.
The judge and police commended the young girl for her courage after she appeared in court for Reynold's sentencing.
In January, the victim disclosed the offences to her school and her mother, and police were informed.
Reynolds had systematically raped the girl over a number of years including a few days prior to the disclosure, she had told police.
He was arrested and items of the girl's clothing were forensically examined which resulted in his semen being found, police said.
The investigation was led by Gloucestershire Constabulary's Child Abuse Investigation Team and he was subsequently charged with the offences.
The court heard Reynolds had initially denied the multiple rapes and attempted to plead guilty to lesser offences, however these were not accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service.
He later admitted the rapes, which happened between 2019 and earlier this year, in a hearing on 7 June.
Prosecutor Ellen McAnaw read statements to the court on behalf of the victim and her mother.
The victim said: "It would affect me in school because I couldn't concentrate as it was all I could think about.
“Now I've told someone and I will never see him again, I feel relieved and safer…
“Sometimes I have thoughts of not wanting to be here anymore, but then I think I have so much to live for and I'm never going to give up."
Her mother had said in her statement: "My daughter will, without doubt, carry this with her for the rest of her life.
"What this man has done to my daughter has completely broken me."
Reynolds, of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, changed his plea to guilty days before a hearing was due to take place.
His defence barrister said they did not dispute the facts, that Reynolds accepts full responsibility for his actions and understands the implications and lasting impact.
Judge Ian Lawrie KC rejected a request from Reynolds' defence for a 25% reduction off his sentence and instead gave a lesser credit of 12.5% for the guilty pleas.
He sentenced Reynolds to 19 years and three months for the count of multiple rapes and around 13 years (157 months) for the two other counts of rape, to run concurrently.
Following the sentencing Detective Inspector Nick Wheeler, from the Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: "Reynolds put the child through a horrific ordeal over a prolonged period of time and he deserves to spend all those years behind bars for what he did."
