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The Twitter account for a rapist photographer has finally been removed after a judge had to order the company to take action.

Nigel Wilkinson was recently convicted for a second time after drugging and raping young men he had lured with free photoshoots.

After Twitter initially failed to remove his account, the judge in the case issued the order forcing the firm to take it down.

Wilkinson’s Twitter account had contained many examples of his work - he specialised in photographing male models, but hid a dark secret.

In 2016, he was jailed for 11 years and six months for a series of sex offences.

The court heard he preyed on the young men who came for photoshoots at his studio in Bristol, drugging them and raping or sexually assaulting them, as well as spying or filming them.

While in prison, he was charged and convicted of another set of offences when new victims came forward after reading about the 2016 case.

(Image: Avon and Somerset Constabulary)

Earlier this month, Wilkinson was jailed for another 16 years and six months after being found guilty of drugging five men, with voyeurism offences against three and the rape of one of them.

Wilkinson failed to leave his cell to be sentenced at the end of the most recent trial - he had denied the charges.

The judge ordered that the 16 years be served concurrently with the 11 years - so effectively added only five years onto his sentence.

But he ordered Wilkinson has to serve at least two-thirds of that sentence before being eligible to apply for parole, which will keep Wilkinson behind bars until at least autumn 2029.

Judge James Patrick, labelled the 45-year-old a ‘coward’, and said he caused ‘severe psychological trauma’.

(Image: Bristol Post)

The trial had heard Wilkinson used social media - particularly Twitter - to search for his victims, inviting them for photoshoots before drugging and attacking them.

But despite his 2016 conviction, the judge in the December 2018 case found that Wilkinson’s Twitter account was still open.

He issued an order forcing Twitter to take it down, which has now taken place.

Although his Facebook and Instagram accounts had both been deleted, American social media company Twitter had thus far declined to remove the account, despite his criminal conviction.

At the court case, prosecuting barrister Sarah Regan called Twitter 'difficult' and stated Wilkinson had given his consent for the account to be removed, however did not provide any of the necessary log-in details to make deletion possible.

Twitter has now suspended it, but there are still tweets posted by other people that contain his Twitter handle, including some from young men who tweeted that they had been photographed by Wilkinson, and one which contains one of the images from a photoshoot.

A Twitter spokeswoman declined to comment on the issue.