A man was fined £105 after being caught on CCTV cameras displaying prostitutes' advertising cards in phone boxes.

The prosecution follows a police crackdown on people who post the cards.

Samuel Denny, 22, of Brunswick Road, Hove, admitted two offences of advertising prostitution when he appeared at Brighton Magistrates Court yesterday. He was also ordered to pay £75 costs.

Libby Clarke, prosecuting, said in the first incident Denny was caught on surveillance cameras sticking the cards in phone boxes in Churchill Square, Brighton, in the early hours of July 23.

Police stopped him and he was found to be carrying a quantity of call girl cards and sticking material.

The court heard while on bail awaiting trial, he was again caught sticking cards in boxes on August 23.

Denny got paid £20 for two hours' work displaying the cards.

Teresa Mulrooney, defending, said: "A friend told him this was a good way of earning some cash."

She said on both occasions Denny did not manage to finish the job, did not get paid £20 and instead was arrested.

Ms Mulrooney said: "He tells me he has learnt his lesson and is not going to have any more attempts at earning a bit of cash on the side like this."

Denny was arrested using new laws which came into force a year ago.

For the first time, it became an arrestable offence to post the cards, many of which are considered obscene. Offenders face up to six months in prison or a £5,000 fine.

Superintendent Peter Coll, second in command of Brighton police, said afterwards: "This prosecution should send a clear message to people that distributing sexual adverts is unlawful.

"The cards have a detrimental effect on the quality of life of people living in the area and visitors.

"We don't want families and the elderly to be fearful of coming into the city centre."

He said this went hand in hand with offences such as graffiti which also had a negative impact on the environment.

Hove MP Ivor Caplin, who has campaigned against the sex cards, welcomed the legislation when it was introduced.

He said at the time: "This is a significant step in cleaning up our phone boxes."