A LAY preacher who sexually molested two girls has had his jail term cut by almost a third.

Francis Fletcher, aged 66, of Twist Lane, Leigh, was jailed for three-and-a-half years at Bolton Crown Court last September.

At the last minute he pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent assault in the late 1980s and early 1990s involving two girls, both of them aged under 10 at the time.

Despite his guilty pleas, he later told the author of a pre-sentence report he did not commit the offences.

The sentencing judge referred to Fletcher's lack of remorse and apology, noting he was denying his guilt.

However, Mr Justice David Clarke, sitting with Judge John Brodrick at London's Criminal Appeal Court, concluded his sentence was too long and cut it to two-and-half years. The Court took into account decisions in other similar cases.

His lawyers argued, although the guilty plea was very late, the victims were spared from giving evidence, and referred to the "limited" nature of the indecency,

Mr Justice Clarke noted Fletcher pleaded guilty to six individual offences -- not to specimen counts showing a course of conduct -- although he added: "We do not know whether the girls themselves would accept this.

"The truth of the matter is he may have pleaded guilty on the day of trial to the minimum the Crown was prepared to accept."

But he noted the sentencing judge could not go beyond those accepted pleas and, in fact, did not. If Fletcher had pleaded guilty to offences revealing a regular course of contact, his sentence would have been considerably higher.