Photograper Paul Caffell has been convicted today of taking an indecent picture of a 15 year old girl.

A jury at Gloucester crown court also found the distinguished 68 year old guilty of possessing 981 indecent images of the girl naked or in states of undress.

Father of three Caffell, of Stone Ends, Horsley, was acquitted, however, of six charges of indecently assaulting the girl and the jury failed to reach verdicts on two similar charges of indecent assault.

He was also acquitted of another offence of taking indecent pictures of the girl and the jury reached no verdict on a third similar charge.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC discharged the jury from returning verdicts on the outstanding three counts and gave the prosecution time to consider whether it wishes to have the allegations tried again.

Caffell was bailed for a pre-sentence report and ordered to sign the sex offenders register. He will be sentenced at Taunton Crown Court in April.

The judge paid tribute to Detective Sgt Adrian Stratton, who had investigated the case and prepared the evidence for the court.

He said he would be writing to chief constable of Gloucestershire Dr Tim Brain to commend him for his work.

"I know very well how much work is involved in this type of case," said the judge.

"I expect there has been a lot of midnight oil burning. Getting 900 images up is a huge task and I know there has been a lot more work besides that. Well done."

Caffell, of Stone Ends, Horsley, is renowned for his artistic black and white photography using an old platinum printing process. He said in evidence that he was regarded as the UK's leadiong exponent of the platinum printing method.

He is a friend of Sir Paul McCartney and top photographer David Bailey as well as having worked closely with the late Linda McCartney on her photographic projects.

He printed all Linda McCartney's pictures with the personal approval of Sir Paul and their daughter Mary.

The McCartney family pictures which he produced are to be exhibited at the James Hyman Gallery in London in April together with photos of John Lennon, Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger.

During Caffell's trial several models, including Storm Mortimer, gave evidence that he had always behaved correctly towards them during photoshoots.

The girl at the centre of the case, now a 20 year old woman, told the court she first met Caffell when she was nine and moved with her parents to live close to his home.

He later took a portfolio of pictures of her clothed for her to use to further her interest in drama and dance, she said, But then he began taking scores of nude photos of her in his garden shed studio or nearby woodland. Often she would wear 'props' he kept in his studio such as stockings, blindfolds, long black gloves and a basque.

The girl told the court she had posed nude for him more than 50 times and he paid her £20 each time.

She alleged that Caffell told her he had sex with all his models and when she said she was not interested he said she would be when she was older.

She felt unable to tell him to stop because she regarded him as her 'lifelline' after he took an interest in her, flattering her about the colour of her hair and her transluscent 'Gothic' like skin, she said.

It was not until she went to university that the girl made allegations against Caffell after confiding in friends.

Caffell denied all the girl's allegations, saying that all the nude photographs he took of her were after her sixteenth birthday when she was old enough to consent.

He said he had never laid a finger on her and her allegations of sexual touching were all 'rubbish.' Caffell told the jury his interest in taking pictures of the girl was purely artistic, In evidence he ranted against the 'police state' which had led to his photographs being branded illegal when the identical work of foreign photographers was celebrated and shown in galleries around the world.

After being convicted today of taking an indecent photo of the girl between Dec 31st 2002 and August 27th 2003, when she was 15, and of possessing 981 indecent photos and negatives of her on May 25th 2006 when he was arrested, Caffell was bailed b hy Judge Jamie Tabor QC to await sentence on a date to be fixed in April.

The charges on which he was acquitted by the jury were of indecently assaulting the girl four times between Aug 2003 and Aug 2004, when she was 16, and twice between November 2002 and August 2003 when she was fifteen.

The jury reached no verdict on two identical charges relating to the period when she was fifteen and it did not return a verdict, either, on a charge of taking indecent pictures of her between December 2002 and August 2003.