Ex-Emmerdale director who bragged about seeing Harry Styles naked as he groomed teen boy avoids jail despite sick crimes
A FORMER soap director who bragged about seeing Harry Styles naked while grooming a teen boy has avoided jail.
Three-time British Soap Award winner Lee Salisbury, 46, met the victim during a film course.
Salisbury, who has worked on Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Holby City and EastEnders, began messaging him on Instagram.
He told the teen: “Well done mate, you were great.”
BAFTA-nominated Salisbury then bragged about having “previously worked” with pop star Harry Styles.
The fiend told him he had “seen him naked on several occasions”, Bradford Crown Court heard.
He then began asking the teen for sexually explicit messages and phoned him on several occasions.
Salisbury pleaded guilty to one count of sexual communication with a child but avoided prison.
He was instead handed a 12 month sentence suspended for 18 months.
The court was told the boy felt he needed to stay in contact with Salisbury due to his industry expertise and contacts.
He told the predator how old he was as Salisbury attempted to move the vile chats to the encrypted Telegram app.
The fiend also messaged him on Snapchat as he asked him about his sexuality and whether he slept naked before – before urging the teen to “keep that information to himself”.
When police recovered his phone, they discovered searches relating to how to recover Telegram messages and how to get texts thrown out of court.
In his victim impact statement, the boy said: “Since this investigation, I have been reluctant to attend certain holiday or weekend courses relating to film, drama or dance.
“I really struggle to trust adults in the industry and look differently at adults I know…I struggle to trust what they say or do.
“I felt withdrawn at home and school and would feel confused about the situation and how it started and what he said to me. It has made my anxiety worse.
“None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for Lee. It’s made me angry.”
In mitigation, the court was told Salisbury was battling a cocaine addiction at the time following the end of his marriage.
His lawyer also said he is “appalled” and “embarrassed” by his vile actions.
As well as a suspended sentence, Salisbury will be on the sex offenders register for ten years and is barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.
He was also ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid community work, pay £2,000 compensation and £1,000 court costs.