A TALENTED theatre director who exploited his position to sexually abuse two under-age drama students has been jailed for four years.

Samuel Collier's award-winning stage career was in ruins after he took advantage of the girls, who looked up to him because of his status in the arts world, Bradford Crown Court was told.

Collier, 27, stood impassively in the dock yesterday as he was told the girls, who were 14 and 15, trusted him after he befriended them at the city's Priestley Theatre in Little Germany.

"All the undoubted good work that you have done with theatre groups in the Bradford area will not be able to continue on your release," Judge Colin Burn told him.

Collier, of Norman Lane, Eccleshill, Bradford, was convicted by a jury yesterday of five offences of sexual activity with a girl who was 14 when he was 20. He was cleared of one further similar offence.

He pleaded guilty before the start of the trial to inciting a 15-year-old girl, nine years his junior, to engage in sexual activity, and to four charges of sexual activity with her.

He was convicted by the jury of two further allegations of sexual activity with her.

An indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order bans Collier from contacting his victims and having any unsupervised contact with children.

The jury heard that he hugged and kissed the 14-year-old girl and gave her a necklace.

She stayed overnight at his then home in Markfield Avenue, Low Moor, Bradford, and provided her with "an emotional crutch."

Judge Burn told Collier he took advantage of his position in the theatre in respect of both girls.

"They trusted you and looked up to you, and you were able to fall into a sexual relationship with both of them," he said.

Collier did not have a full sexual relationship with the 14-year-old, but she felt a degree of compulsion to submit to him, the judge said.

He was in a "genuine and loving, if not legal, sexual relationship," with the girl of 15 that continued after her 16th birthday.

Collier's barrister, Sara Dodd, said: "Any future career plans he had are completely decimated because he will never be able to work in any capacity with young people again."

Collier, who told the jury he had had professional contact with up to 10,000 under-age girls, produced his first show at the Priestley Theatre, which became the Bradford Playhouse, in 2006.

He became house manager there and went on to produce a string of musicals, plays and concerts at the theatre and at many other venues, including Glusburn and Skipton.

He was involved in the 2007 youth production of Chess at the Priestley Theatre and won the Lord Mayor of Bradford's Community Harmony Award for contribution to culture.

After the case, Detective Sergeant Rob Stevens, of Bradford District CID, said: "Collier used his status in the local arts world to give him access to young and vulnerable girls, who he then exploited for his own gain.

"He acted as their confidant and then abused that position of trust to strike up inappropriate relationships.

"We would like to thank the victims and their families for bringing his crimes to our attention and hope that today's outcome will give them some comfort.

"We also hope it will encourage other victims to come forward and liaise with our specially trained officers, who will investigate every report sensitively and thoroughly with the aim of seeking convictions against offenders."