Christophe Bejach, 53, pictured, faces jail after he admitted arranging to commission a child sex offence and possessing indecent images of children

A former advisor to the French Minister of Economy and Industry has avoided jail after an undercover police officer caught him arranging a bikini photoshoot involving three young sisters.

Christophe Bejach, 53, bought a stash of tiny lingerie from Amazon as he so he could shoot ‘erotic nudes’ of the children, aged just eight, 10, and 12, between April and July 2016.

Bejach outlined the fantasy to the girls’ mother Sadie on an extreme porn site, not realising she was an officer from the Met’s cyber crime team posing as a child abuser.

He admitted hatching the plot but said he purchased the underwear for his girlfriend, who is said to be ‘very slightly built’.

Bejach was spared jail despite Judge Joanna Korner rejecting his evidence and saying his claims undermined 'the full extent of your remorse and indeed the discount to which you would be entitled for the pleas'.

She handed him a nine-month sentence suspended for two years for one count of arranging the commission of a child sex offence and three counts of possessing indecent photographs of children.

The judge said: 'You described what you wanted to do to the children, in particular you said you weren't interested in the younger girls but in the elder girl.

'Sometimes the descriptions were graphic.

'You sent photographs of underwear to Sadie and also added that you wanted to photograph those children or the girl in the underwear.'

Judge Korner said she had 'no hesitation' in rejecting Bejach's account after reading the chat logs and hearing of the stash of child abuse images found at his house.

'You couldn't bring yourself to fully admit how long this period in your life had actually gone on for,' she added.

'As far as the eldest girl was concerned you wanted to have actual intercourse with her.'

The court heard there were 'extremely strong' mitigating factors, including Bejach's 'impeccable character' until his conviction.

A psychological report concluded that he was in a 'depressive state' during the period of the offences, which Judge Korner said brought out 'deeply repressed desires which you probably would never have given into had it not been for this illness'.

She told the court that 'the public interest doesn't require the sentence to be one of immediate imprisonment'.

Earlier prosecutor Daniel Robinson told the court: ‘In this case there were intended to be three long-term victims.

‘What he was hoping to achieve was a long-term family setup, that’s how the correspondence begins effectively - he wanted to introduce the family to sexual abuse.’

Bejach was told the siblings were ‘quite demanding’ and replied: ‘Which turns me on beyond what you can think of.’

When asked ‘what’s the lowest age that makes you hot?’ he told Sadie: ‘Two times five I would say.’

Mr Robinson said: ‘The crown’s case is that during the chat log he indicated the intention to take his camera along on a number of occasions and sent Sadie photographs of underwear he had purchased in order to have the girls pose during a photo shoot.’

But Sarah Whitehouse QC, defending, said: ‘He bought a great deal of underwear on Amazon for his girlfriend.

‘He bought that in May on one occasion and indeed we have photographs of his girlfriend wearing some of those items before his arrest.’

She added: ‘She’s very slightly built.’

Bejach admits telling Sadie he had sexually abused his own daughter and suffered child abuse at the hands of his mother, but says he was lying during the online chats.

Giving evidence today, he said: ‘I was not in my right mind and I was not acting or typing or speaking rationally.

‘As awful as it may seem or I should say as awful as it is, all these were fictions. You will probably find it totally stupid.’

He continued: ‘Imagining things and writing things, I have been writing a book, I have been writing a play, I have always kept my imagination working because having an imagination was important as an entrepreneur.’

Asked about the underwear, Bejach answered: ‘Those are adult lingerie pieces and they are actually the lingerie I got for Alexandria - sorry Alexandria your honour is my partner.’

He said he became convinced Sadie was trying to blackmail him and withdrew from the plan after he met her at the four-star Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, central London on 28 April 2016.

Bejach, a former advisor to the French Minister of Economy and Industry, faces jail after admitting the crimes at Southwark Crown Court, pictured

He continued to contact her but says he was trying to keep her at an ‘arm’s length’ until he left the UK.

Asked if he intended to have sex with the girls before the meeting at the Cumberland Hotel, Bejach said: ‘Before that I had very terrible thoughts, yes.’

He claimed he kept contacting Sadie because: ‘I was totally scared by the meeting we had, I knew I was in a bad situation and you know as they say keep your enemies close.’

The prosecution said Bejach only put an end to his photoshoot plan when he had a disagreement with Sadie over where to have it.

Mr Robinson said: ‘The way that things ended is that he was spooked, effectively he got nervous about the arrangements to book the hotel and then he withdrew, but that came right at the end of the picture.’

Police raided Bejach’s Bayswater home in July 2016 and discovered a stash of 60 images of child abuse including seven Category A images - the most serious kind portraying penetrative sexual activity.

He earned his Master’s in Business Administration from Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) de Paris, one of the world’s most renowned business schools.

In 2006 he co-founded one of the leading think tanks in France, Terra Nova, and went on to found the L’Avion airline which was successfully sold to British Airways before a stint advising Arnaud Montebourg on aerospace, defence, energy and mining.

Bejach, of Bayswater, was ordered to carry out 100 days on an accredited treatment programme, 20 days of rehabilitation activities, and was served with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

He must also sign the Sex Offenders' Register for ten years, forfeit his computer, and pay £1,200 prosecution costs.