Mark Wayne Weaver, 47, formerly of Horsham before being taken into custody on October 31, 2007 when his bail was denied, faced Horsham County Court on Wednesday.

He was convicted of various sexual and child pornography offences against nine victims in the Horsham area from February 1, 1997 to April 2007.

Weaver pleaded guilty to 29 charges including indecent assault, indecent acts with a child under 16, sexual penetration of a child under 16, having produced child pornography, having procured a child for the preparation of producing child pornography and having possessed child pornography.

He also pleaded guilty to Commonwealth offences of having used a carriage service to menace or harass, having used a carriage service to procure a child for pornography, having used a carriage service to groom for producing child pornography and having failed to comply with reporting conditions of the sex offences registry.

Judge Barbara Cotterell said she would sentence Weaver at a date to be fixed, most likely in January or February.

Crown prosecutor Justin Lewis told the court Weaver offered to take photographs of the victims, promising to send them to a magazine to kick-start a modelling career.

Weaver offered some of the victims money and told them how beautiful they were.

He met the victims at their work, at their father's work or through other people.

He pestered some victims until they agreed to pose for photographs in `sexy' poses.

The photographs included a girl, 15, in her school uniform with the front open to expose her breasts.

Mr Lewis said the child pornography photographs were `at the lower end of the scale' but depicted erotic posing.

``Weaver told her it was okay as long as she didn't show her bits and pieces,'' he said.

In September 2006 Weaver met a girl, 14, via MSN chat on the internet.

Weaver engaged in a relationship with the girl, buying her gifts including a teddy bear, g-string and chocolates.

Mr Lewis said Weaver asked the girl whether she loved him and told her he loved her, asking for sexual favours by saying `show me how much you love me'.

Weaver formed a sexual relationship with the girl.

Between November 2006 and April 2007 the pair exchanged 12,939 calls and text messages with 8492 made by Weaver.

Defence barrister Nick Graham said Weaver had difficulty in pleading guilty because `he thought the child had to be under 18, not 16'.

``But he was not prepared to subject the girls to give evidence at a trial,'' he said. ``He still doesn't understand the definition of pornography. He thought if they were clothed it wasn't pornography.''

Mr Graham said most of the indecent assault incidents occurred when Weaver `not so much touched the victim but touched their clothing' but did concede some charges were `more than simply undoing clothes'.

He said Weaver had introduced one of the victims as his god-daughter, taken her into his home as a boarder, encouraged her to return to school, helped her get part-time jobs and helped her get her licence.

``The victim's mother was going through a difficult time,'' he said.

Mr Graham said Weaver, an electronics engineer, had his own business in Stawell Road.

``He's no fool, he's a very intelligent man,'' he said. ``He's concerned about the level of trouble he's caused the victims.''

Mr Graham said Weaver had signed over power of attorney to his father, who consequently sold all of Weaver's possessions, including his home.

``My client has suffered financially, he's got nothing except the items he has with him in prison,'' he said.

``It's going to be difficult for him when he gets out of jail.''

Mr Graham said Weaver had served his time in prison and the balance of any sentence should be `by way of probation' or an intensive corrections order.

Weaver's mother Maureen gave evidence to the court, saying Weaver was well-skilled in electronics and had volunteered with the Scouts at one stage to communicate with an astronaut.

Mrs Weaver told how her son helped out his dead de-facto's mother until the day of his arrest.

She also told the court of incidents where Weaver had helped fellow inmates and that the prison guards told her he was a wonderful prisoner.

``I think it's Mark's way of showing that he's sorry for what he's done,'' she said.

``Mark's always had such a big heart, he would help anyone.

``I will continue to visit him as long as I can and his sentence finishes. I love him. He's my son. I'm his mother and a mother's love doesn't waver.''