Man banned from Britain's schools

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/devon/7175275.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A man who took indecent photographs of two girls has been banned from going within 100m of any school in Britain.

Charles Fox had permission from the mothers of the six and seven-year-old girls to take pictures, but the women had no idea some would be indecent.

Fox, 41, who lives in a van in east and mid Devon, was also given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, at Exeter Crown Court.

He denied the charges, but the judge said he had shown "subtle deviousness".

Model promises

Fox was convicted at an earlier trial of two charges of causing a six-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity, and two of taking indecent photographs of a seven-year-old girl.

He was acquitted of a charge of taking indecent photographs, and of causing children to pose for his sexual gratification.

The ban from approaching schools covers the whole of Great Britain.

The mother of the six-year-old said she met Fox in a photography shop and he talked about her daughter becoming a model.

She was later given a portfolio of acceptable photographs of her daughter, but had no idea he had also taken indecent shots.

"I feel naive and guilty because he used me and my daughter to get to other children," she said.

'Protect girls'

Judge John Neligan said Fox had at one stage telephoned the police to find out what constituted an indecent photograph of a child.

That, and obtaining written parental consent, showed "subtle deviousness on your part", the judge said.

The judge made a Sexual Offences Protection Order, telling Fox it was "to protect young girls under the age of 17 from serious sexual harassment from you in the future".

Fox was told not to photograph any child under the age of 17, undertake an activity likely to bring him into contact with a child of that age, or invite any child under that age back to his van.

The judge said that throughout the trial Fox maintained that, because he had the consent of the mothers to take photographs, he had not committed an offence and had done nothing wrong at all.