Church to sue photographer over erotic snaps

A diocese in the UK is taking legal action against a photographer who used a village church for an erotic photoshoot.

The pictures of semi-naked models cavorting amongst gravestones and inside the church were taken at St Michael Penkivel Church in Cornwall.

Now photographer Andy Craddock is the subject of legal action by the Diocese of Truro for trespass and not having permission to take photographs, accusing him of blasphemy.

Mr Craddock, his girlfriend and a couple of models used the 13th century church without the Reverend Andrew Yates knowing and then published the pictures on his website.

St Michael Penkivel was used in Rowan Atkinson’s 2005 comedy 'Keeping Mum', which also starred Dame Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott-Thomas, about a serial-killer in a quiet village.

Mr Craddock, who said he wanted the pictures to add to his portfolio, runs a studio featuring fetishist and erotic photography in St Austell.

He said: “All I know is I’m being threatened with legal action, I don’t understand it and I don’t see the photographs as offensive, it’s art.”

Jeremy Downing, a spokesman for the Diocese of Truro, confirmed legal action was being taken.

“The Church deplores the use of sacred space in this way,” he said.

“The pictures would be deeply offensive to people who view the place for regular worship.

“That’s not what these buildings are intended for and he is deliberately taking advantage of the situation.

“Whether he’s gone in there legally or illegally he is using the setting for an entirely improper purpose.

“By anyone’s reasonable standards of decency this is beyond the pale.”