A SOLICITOR who “behaved like a predator” when he sexually molested a 14-year-old boy in a leisure centre changing room was jailed for three years yesterday by Belfast Crown Court.
Jailing Thomas Reynolds (36) and ordering him to sign the police sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life, Judge Philip Babington told him he had “behaved quite disgracefully” and had “no consideration for anyone apart from yourself”.
At the end of his two-week trial last February, Reynolds, who at one stage lectured on property law at Queen’s University Belfast, was convicted of indecently assaulting the teenager, inciting him to commit an act of gross indecency and a further count of committing an act of gross indecency.
The jury heard the charges all related to an incident at the Falls Road Leisure Centre on June 7th, 2007, when the 14-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in a group changing room.
Defence lawyer Dennis Boyd said the reputation of the married father of two had been “shattered” as a result of his convictions and that, in a professional sense, he had “paid the highest price imaginable”. Judge Babington said the offences were aggravated by the fact that, by his denials, Reynolds forced his victim to give evidence and be cross-examined.