Russ Haynes was exposed by The Sun

A newish comedian exposed by The Sun on Sunday for being a previously convicted paedophile has been dropped by his agent.

The tabloid revealed that in 2008 Russ Haynes was jailed for two years after admitted indecent assault and making hundreds of indecent images and videos of children. He was a gym coach who took pictures of his victim, a 15-year-old boy, first exercising naked, then tied up and performing sex acts. Other images were also found on his computer

Haynes called his sex offending ‘the biggest regret of my life’, telling the newspaper: ‘It all happened ten years ago and fortunately I’ve moved on. I’m not going to do anything that wrecks that.’

However the exposé has damaged his hopes of establishing a new career, with his agents Laughing Pod dropping him from their books.

In a statement on the company website, director Stephen Watson said the revelations had come as a shock to him, as he never investigated his client’s past.

And he added that he didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise his own career as a comedy agent.

‘It has been an upsetting few days for me,’ he said. ‘Russ and I have had a friendship spanning a few years and I always felt proud to have him on my books. The revelations of the last 2 days have come as a complete shock.

‘As an agent I am disappointed and angry that this information was kept from me all this time. Not only risking my business but also my other clients by association. However, as a friend I am deeply hurt.

‘Whilst I understand that opening up about issues such as this, must be a frightening experience, I am angry that by not doing so it implies that Laughing Pod in some way always knew this had happened, and may come up. I cannot stress enough, that I had no idea.

‘I am at the start at what I hope will be a long and illustrious career in comedy. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise that. If I have acted incorrectly somehow, this is simply because, I have never been faced with an issue of this magnitude before.’

Haynes will remain on the sex offenders register for three more years – ten years since his sentencing - and is banned from working with children indefinitely.

Published: 2 Feb 2015