Jail for photographer paid to take porn pictures of girls

Former landscape and wedding snapper Robin Doherty admitted a string a sex offences including arranging a session at his studio in which he was planning to take pictures of himself having sex with three girls, aged 13, 14 and 16.

But Leeds Crown Court heard the sex session never went ahead and the defendant was caught when one of the girls' relatives intercepted one of his messages.

Doherty, 43, told police his photographic sessions were done to order and he named another man called Andrew Thorpe as the "money man".

The court heard Thorpe was prosecuted for possessing child abuse images but there was not enough evidence to charge him alongside Doherty.

The defendant was paid about 8,000 by Thorpe for supplying photographs of girls and young women, the court was told.

Philip Adams, prosecuting, said the 16-year-old girl went to Doherty's studio in Brook Street, Ilkley, in October 2007 where "she started with fashion shots in which she was clothed, then to lingerie shots and then to topless shots and then to naked shots and she was paid 300."

At a second session, the prosecutor said, Doherty photographed the girl in pornographic poses.

Mr Adams said it was after this session the defendant got in contact with the teenager's sister, who was 14 at the time, and a friend, who was just 13.

He said Doherty offered "1,000 to each girl to have sex with him, and possibly another man, and for the session to be recorded."

The court heard one of the girls sent the defendant indecent pictures of herself as she considered the offer.

Mr Adams said detectives later found thousands of child abuse images on the photographer's computer which had been downloaded from the internet.

Such images are classified from level one to five, where five is the most serious. Doherty admitted possessing 25,000 at level one; 200 at level two; 70 at level three; 34 at level four and eight at level five.

Sentencing Doherty, the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC noted that while courts regularly saw defendants with child abuse images on their computers it was rare to see someone in the dock who took these pictures as part of this "vile trade".

Judge Collier said: "It went further than just taking photographs. It was your intention, if any of these children would be willing, to seek to have sex with them and to have photographs taken of that activity. All of that was for money being supplied to you by another person. That makes this commercial."

Doherty admitted a string of offences relating to the sexual exploitation of children including taking and distributing indecent images, arranging the commission of a child sex offence and inciting a child to take part in pornographic activity.