Stephen Stuckle jailed for rape and sexual assault

At Gloucester Crown Court yesterday (June 15) Judge Ian Lawrie QC told Stephen Stuckle of Melmore Gardens, that the hallmark of his offending was his ‘persistence in sexually abusing three highly vulnerable and emotionally fragile young females'.

Prosecutor Robin Shellard said the case concerned three unrelated victims who were vulnerable either because of their age, personal circumstances or mental capacity, or a combination of all these factors.

A police investigation began in July 2019 after one victim reported what had happened to her.

“Victim A was 13 at the time of the sexual assaults.

“On June 27, 2019 the girl was reported missing and when she was found a youth support worker investigated the reasons as to why she had left home.

“She disclosed that she was sexually assaulted by Stuckle.

“The police were called in. Their investigations uncovered she had gone on a camping trip with Stuckle three years earlier.

“She explained that Stuckle would regularly embark on 'tickle fights.' 

“In the morning she told her mother. She explained to her the tickling fights would begin with him pretending to be a monster. He would tickle her on top of her clothes before going underneath her clothing and this included removing her bra."

Stuckle was arrested in July 2019 and four videos were found on his phone. Two of them featured Victim A, who was shown drying her legs with a towel and was heard to tell Stuckle to ‘stop’. Another featured a close-up of the girl’s legs.

Stephen Stuckle

A police investigation was then launched into Stuckle’s past and this uncovered two other victims.

In 2017, Victim B met Stuckle when he was working as a security guard at Southmead Hospital. 

“He took her to a building that was locked.

“He gained access and persuaded her to lie on the floor and he began touching her all over.

The court heard details of how he sexually assaulted her.

His employment was formally terminated for gross misconduct.

"The third victim was aged between nine and ten when she was sexually assaulted by Stuckle who touched her private area with his penis,” added the prosecutor.

“She was aged around 16 when he first raped her and was slightly older when he raped her again in a place outside British jurisdiction."

'He took advantage of them'

James Haskell, defending, said: “Stuckle accepts his victims were vulnerable and he took advantage of them. He hates himself for putting these girls through this emotional turmoil."

Stuckle pleaded guilty to eight charges of rape and sexual assaults of children over two decades.

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In sentencing Stuckle, Judge Lawrie said: “You regularly abused your position. All the victims were clearly and self-evidently vulnerable.

“You targeted them because of their vulnerabilities because it made the commission of the offences easier and less likely they would complain or be believed if they did.

“The victims graphically describe the deep long-term emotional and psychological impact your offending has had."

Stuckle was placed on the sex offenders register for life and subject to the terms of a sexual harm prevention order for life.