A MAN on trial accused of sexually abusing two ten-year-old schoolgirls has admitted photographing one of them while she posed indecently.

Paul Wilkinson told the jury at Bradford Crown Court today he was disgusted with himself after directing the child to pull up her skirt and expose her naked body while he took pictures on two separate occasions.

Wilkinson, 41, of Broadstone Way, Holme Wood, Bradford, has pleaded guilty to an offence of taking indecent photos of the girl.

He denies six further charges, including one of rape, two of attempted rape, two of sexual assault and one of taking indecent photographs of a second child.

He was on trial accused of a second rape but that charge was dropped by Judge Neil Davey QC at the close of the prosecution case yesterday and a new alternative offence of attempted rape substituted.

Wilkinson, who used to work at Cash Converters in Bradford, told the jury he had no sexual interest in the girls.

He denied an allegation from the first child that he took indecent photos of her while she wore a pink skirt.

Wilkinson said he had never had leather bedding, as she claimed, and did not show her a sex film.

The court has been told that no indecent pictures of her had been found in the defendant's possession.

He says he was almost never alone with either of the children.

Questioned by his barrister, Tina Landale, Wilkinson said that taking the sexually explicit photos of the second girl was "a spur of the moment thing."

"I took a few photos and I deeply regret my actions: I am disgusted by my actions," he said.

He agreed he went on to take another set of similar pictures of her three months later.

"I made it into a game with her, of messing about," he said.

Wilkinson declined to answer police questions when he was arrested earlier this year but his solicitor handed in a prepared statement.

"I was confused, upset and very angry that the allegations had been made about me," he told the court.

Cross-examined by Ian Howard, prosecuting, Wilkinson said he began collecting pornography after becoming depressed.

He kept the indecent photos of the girl in a file on his computer, hoping that because they were of a real person they would jolt him back to reality.

Mr Howard alleges Wilkinson undressed the girls before sexually abusing them at different addresses in Bradford, when one was aged nine or ten and the second ten years old.

Wilkinson is accused of raping the first girl, sexually assaulting her and trying to rape her again, all on one occasion.

The Crown says that some years later, he attempted to rape the second girl and sexually assaulted her.

The trial continues.