CELEBRITY Barry Bethell has gone on trial accused of sexually assaulting two young girls and taking indecent photos of a child.

The Crown claim that Bethell, 66, of Kimberley Grove, Seasalter used his knowledge of the world of radio adverts and voice-overs to encourage the girls to visit his home and work in his home recording studio.

Sometimes they went with friends and sometimes alone and were offered chocolates, sweets and non-alcoholic drinks and sometimes made CDs of themselves singing.

Prosecutor Tanya Robinson told Canterbury Crown Court Bethell would help with flexibility exercises such as trying to get their legs behind their heads or do the splits and gained their trust and familiarity with him touching them.

During breathing exercises, he put his hands under or down their clothing to check they were doing the exercises correctly, said Miss Robinson.

The jury of 10 women and two men were told Bethell had already pleaded guilty to eight offences of taking or possessing indecent photos of children.

Images recovered by police had been downloaded from websites called 'Hottest Lolita Models’ and 'Cute Angels’.

One of the victims was 11 when in a video interview she said she had met Bethell while looking for odd jobs cleaning cars or gardening in 2005.

He heard her singing and spoke about her making a recording.

He began touching her bottom and kissing her on the lips when welcoming her which made her feel uncomfortable.

He told her it was necessary to warm up her voice and would sit behind her holding her stomach on the upper part of her vagina as she did so.

He said she could be a model and later asked her to remove clothing.

The police became involved after she spoke to an adult friend.

He put his hand under her knickers during the singing lessons, but this is denied by Bethell.

Then the complaint from the second girl who was a friend of the first girl came to light.

She had been offered money to clean his car and do other chores and visited him over three or four months and was given sweets and chocolates and drinks.

Bethell offered to help her and her sister save money for a laptop.

She was offered singing and modelling lessons and when she was trying to do the splits, he would push her further down.

During breathing exercises, he would put his hands under her top and down her trousers and touch her knickers, moving his hand, she claimed.

The indecent pictures were of an unknown child posing with legs apart but Bethell denies the images are indecent.

He was arrested in February 2008 but declined to answer questions when interviewed.

He did say he had opened an email and found images and printed them off. He said he was sorry and would like to receive professional help.

“The Crown say he has a sexual interest in children demonstated by his guilty plea to downloading indecent images and by taking indecent pictures of real children when they visited him,” said Miss Robinson.

She warned the Jury that such allegations can stir up strong feelings and asked them to put aside any feelings of prejudice.

The trial continues.