A Manningham vicar will be seen by millions of television viewers tonight talking about his work on a ground breaking project with kerb crawlers and prostitutes.

The Reverend George Moffat will feature in the BBC2 programme Modern Times about a Leeds University course based on an American idea where the men are sent by the police to a "John School" for a day instead of appearing at court.

The idea is to show them the wider consequences of their actions by listening to former prostitutes talk about their lives and the devastation caused by men buying sex on the streets.

Mr Moffat, team rector for Manningham, has first hand experience of the problems "Johns" bring to an area: "I live in St Paul's Road and at one point we had 20 women working in that area. I talked to the men on the course about the sheer amount of traffic the Johns caused," he said.

"I explained if you are a punter you were part of a system which helped almost to destroy a community. I think some of them were able to understand the actual implications of their individual actions.

"I also stressed the point that by becoming a 'John' they were part of a system where men ended up killing women in their pursuit for sex."

Course organiser Julie Bindel said: "The vicar has brought two things to the course - firstly his knowledge of the Manningham area as a resident and as a clergy man responsible for his congregation who come to his church.

"He's also brought into the room his expertise of Bradford because the scheme covers the whole of West Yorkshire. It really is important that Bradford people know the scheme is operating in their area even though it's based in Leeds and that men caught kerb crawling in the area can be sent here."

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