December 1998 Prison for man who sold film of girl’s strip A 57-year-old man who allowed indecent photos to be taken of a teenager and then sold them to an undercover reporter has been jailed for 12 months. Clifford Davies was dubbed the country’s most evil man by a Sunday newspaper after it published details of his activities in the summer of 1997. Bradford Crown Court heard how the reporter met Davies outside a hotel in the city and paid him £50 for a roll of film. Prosecutor Roger Thomas said during the secretly-taped meeting Davies also spoke in sexual terms about the girl and possible services she would perform. When the film was developed it showed a 15-year-old performing a striptease and the police were contacted by the paper. Davies, of Stirton Street, Bradford, pleaded guilty last month to permitting the taking of indecent photographs and yesterday Judge John Cockroft said it was clear he had put the already vulnerable girl in a “demeaning and compromising” situation for financial profit. During the police investigation the girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said she was “stoned” on alcohol and drugs provided by Davies when the photos were taken, probably by another girl. She said they were each paid £20. Davies’ barrister Rodney Jameson said Davies’ health had deteriorated grossly because of a problem with his thyroid gland and he urged Judge Cockroft to impose as short a custodial sentence as possible. Judge Cockroft told Davies: “It is obvious that to an extent you were provoked and encouraged by the undercover reporter . . . You well knew the person you were dealing with was not interested in some aesthetic purpose or offering any kind of modelling career. You were providing this material for that person’s sexual gratification and that did not cause you to draw back from what you did.” He ordered Davies to register as a sex offender with the police for ten years following his release.