An agency court reporter succeeded in naming and shaming a boy scout who sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl in a garden shed.

Raymond Stevenson was 14 when he preyed on the youngster, warning the girl she would no longer be allowed to play on a trampoline if she refused his advances.

Initially his identity was protected by an order under Section 39 of the Children and Young Person’s Act imposed at an earlier hearing.

But following his trial and conviction at Snaresbrook Crown Court, reporter Marc Walker persuaded a judge to lift the restriction.

The trial had heard that Stevenson, now aged 16, had supervised boy and girl cubs as young as seven at his troop in east London.

His scout mistress had even appeared as a character witness during his trial, praising his ‘hands-on’ approach to the cubs.

Said Marc: “I submitted to the court that it was in the public interest that Stevenson be named, as parents who sent their children to cubs have a right to know that the person supervising them had been convicted of such serious sexual offences against a young child.

“I also argued that naming Stevenson would act as a deterrent to juveniles abusing younger children.”

Judge Wendy Joseph QC ruled that the order should be lifted in the ‘public interest’.

“When parents send their children to cubs on any weekday evening, they may feel they are entitled to know the result of a case of a boy who supervised their children,” she said.

Marc, a reporter with court press agency Central News, added: “I felt the ruling was a victory for both open justice and the freedom of the press.

“The wider public interest had to come before the welfare of a young sex offender who had committed truly awful crimes against a girl of six.”

Stevenson, of Donegal Street, Islington, was convicted of causing or inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and assault of a child under 13 by penetration.

He was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for two-and-a-half years