A chikd rapist, who groomed a young girl for sex, will be freed from jail sooner than expected after his sentence was cut on appeal.

Stephen Paul Hunt, 40, was sentenced to 18 years in prison at Swindon Crown Court in September last year after he admitted sexual activity with a child and was convicted of rape and indecent assault.

But lawyers for Hunt, of Oaklands, Chippenham, told the Court of Appeal they believed he was wrongly convicted because the judge misdirected the jury. Despite backing the fairness of his trial, three senior judges ruled Hunt’s sentence was too long and cut it to 16 years.

Lord Justice Pill told the court Hunt molested two young girls in the 1990s, but both victims were too frightened to talk about the attacks until they were older.

He said Hunt “prepared” a girl in her early teens for sex by indecently assaulting her, and he sexually touched another girl, who was aged under 10, the court heard.

Hunt denied assaulting the younger girl, and claimed sex with the older girl was “consensual”, but a jury found him guilty of rape.

His barrister, Marcus Davey, argued at the appeal that the trial was prejudiced because the judge did not notify the jury that, before he admitted sexual activity with the older victim, Hunt had a clean criminal record.

But the court rejected that argument.

However, judges ruled Hunt’s overall 18-year jail term “manifestly excessive”, and cut it to 16 years.