Christopher Bradford, 41, was sentenced yesterday to 17 months in prison after he admitted seducing a woman who was being treated for postnatal depression. Although his victim, whose identity is protected by law, was a consenting partner, Bournemouth Crown Court was told that he had broken the law by taking advantage of her.

Bradford, a married, church-going father of three, began counselling the 31-year-old woman soon after the birth of her second child. He questioned her about her sex life and began giving her “hugs”.

He finally seduced her on a retreat at a Christian centre in Poole, Dorset.

Bradford admitted a charge of “engaging in sexual activity with a mentally disordered female” under the Sexual Offence Act 2003, which makes it illegal for social workers to have sex with those in their care.

The judge, Samuel Wiggs, told Bradford: “She was an extremely vulnerable person which is why she was in your care and why having intercourse with her is a criminal offence.

“The fact she was a willing party to what happened is neither here nor there. What you did has had a devastating effect on her and her family. It has also had a devastating effect on your own family.”

The court was told that the woman had been referred by her GP to a psychological centre in Totton, near Southampton, in October 2004, suffering depression after the birth of a daughter.

The woman, from Southampton, said that Bradford’s manner changed in February 2005. She said: “He began to sit closer to me during our sessions and ask me personal stuff about my relationship with my husband. On his recommendation I started seeing him more often, every week.”

She added: “Every now and then I would catch him staring at me — that’s when I started getting dependent on him. After a session when I had got quite upset he asked me if I wanted a hug. I hugged him for ages. A week later I saw him again and things went further. He made sexual advances as we hugged, putting his hands up my top.”

Bradford advised the woman to attend the Green Pastures Christian centre in Poole and they had sex there. She said: “I felt that if I didn’t carry on he would stop seeing me, as my counsellor, and I couldn’t handle that. I looked at him as a kind of father figure.”

The woman returned to the retreat in June last year and again had sex with Bradford. When he told her that the relationship was over she took an overdose. She reported Bradford to his superiors at Hampshire County Council, who called in the police.

Christopher Parker, for the defence, said that Bradford had been a social worker for 20 years. He said: “He has fallen from grace in a way which has been almost a plummet. His career has been destroyed.”

Bradford was told that he would have to register as a sex offender for ten years.

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