Modelling Conman Jailed For Teenage Porn Bid

A man who set up a fake modelling agency to take pictures of young girls has been ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for life and serve a five-year sentence.

Scott Tootill (23), who posed as a woman to deceive the girls, was involved in what Londonderry Crown Court heard was "grooming of the highest order".

He pleaded guilty to three counts of inciting sexual activity with a child and two of attempting to facilitate child prostitution or involvement in pornography.

His sentence will be split into two years of prison followed by three on licence.

Although Tootill did not touch the girls, Judge Piers Grant said it was clear he intended to have some form of sexual activity with them, and three 15-year-olds were "considerably affected" by his online activities.

Tootill, of Limavady, was in touch with three teenagers through a fake modelling page he set up on Facebook.

One victim, who was told she would be paid £400 for posing, received text messages from the fake modelling agency telling her the shoots would be "naked pictures of her doing dirty stuff".

In police interviews, Tootill admitted he planned to use his mobile phone to take pornographic shots of the young girls.

Tootill was handed a life-long ban from contacting or working with children, using or owning a computer and mobile phone without express permission, contacting his teenage victims and from "loitering" around child-centred facilities.

The judge said his "calculated" decision to pretend to be a woman was designed to lull girls into a "false sense of security".

(NE)