Under the legislation, the images of the two girls – aged 10 and 12 – were classed as level one child pornography, despite the fact their parents had asked for the pictures to be taken and were even present at photo shoots.

Dr Marcus Jonathan Angus Phillips, a keen photographer and administrator at Sheffield University, was hauled before the courts after "concerned" staff at a branch of Bonusprint reported his pictures to the NSPCC.

At Sheffield Crown Court yesterday Judge Lawler QC said it was a "wholly exceptional" case and sentenced the 38-year-old, to a 150-hour community service order, sparing him jail and stressing there was no need for him to sign the sex offenders' register.

The judge added: "What is clear is that you had no base motive, no sexual motive and there was not any question of deriving sexual gratification from what you were doing."

He had heard Phillips ran a photography business in his spare time which specialised in turning photographs of clients into 'ethereal' images of fairies.

As well as using professional models he also took commissions from women who wanted to be photographed in the same way.

When the father-of-three, of Crimicar Lane, Sheffield, was asked by the parents of the two girls for pictures to be made of their daughters he agreed to carry out the work.

The commission involved taking close-up shorts of various parts of their bodies, which were then superimposed on top of each other, to create the fairy images.

Bonusprint staff were concerned by images which showed the girls topless and on September 12 last year Phillips's computer was seized by police.

Passing sentence, Judge Lawler QC added: "You always acted perfectly properly and their parents were perfectly law-abiding, sensible people who cared for their children."

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