A former Basingstoke Town footballer who was part of a gang of six men who raped two 12-year-olds walked free last week after serving three months behind bars.
Jahson Downes, 20, of Pell Street, Reading, was jailed for two years on March 17 after pleading guilty to rape at Reading Crown Court.
But at the London Appeal Court on July 12, Lord Justice Moses cut his jail sentences short.
He ruled that the gang’s punishment was excessive because the two girls “wanted to have sex”.
Former town striker Downes played 45 games for the Dragons after joining from Reading in 2009 but had his contract terminated in February this year.
At the original trial at Reading Crown Court, Judge Stephen John heard that a member of the gang received suggestive text messages from one of the girls.
The group drove to the Purley area in Reading to pick up the youngsters, who had sneaked out of a family party.
They drove to a park off George Street in Reading where the two girls split up. One girl went behind a tree where she called five men in turn, including Downes, to perform sex acts with her. The other girl, who was described in court as being more reluctant, was raped by the sixth man.
Defending the group, barristers said the two girls had claimed they were 16, including one of them giving a false age on her Facebook page, and both consented to sex.
Police later picked up the pair after they were found wandering the streets in the early hours of the morning. The group were later arrested and confessed to sex with the girls.
In court they were described as “shocked” and “disgusted” when told the girl’s true ages.
In sentencing the group, Judge John said the gang had seen the girls as willing sexual partners.
“I acknowledge that the girls deliberately misled you as to their ages, and that one girl was a willing and enthusiastic participant in these sordid offences of casual sex, simply to sate you appetites,” he said in March.
The three appeal judges heard lawyers argue that Judge John did not take enough account of the fact that the men believed the girls were 16.
And in announcing the ruling, Lord Justice Moses said the men and their families had suffered as a result of their jail terms when it had been their own confessions that landed them in court.
Their sentences were cut to one-year jail terms, suspended for a year, during which they will remain under probation service supervision.
