A SUNDAY School teacher was today starting a 12 month prison term for three offences of indecent assault on young girls.

Stephen Williams, aged 34, of Butterworth Street, Radcliffe, was found guilty at a previous Bolton Crown Court hearing.

The girls were in his class at Besses United Reformed Church, Whitefield.

Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Michael Lever QC, said he had received a large number of letters from "responsible people" all pleading for leniency for Williams who had previously been a man of good character.

He noted that the offences had been "at the lower end of the scale". The girls had not been put in fear and there was no element of progression in the offences.

Elizabeth Nicholls, counsel for Williams, said the letters had come from people who had known Williams for years as a person of "extraordinary good character".

The offences had consisted only of indecently touching the girls and it was highly improbable that he would ever offend again, she said.

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