A German man found guilty of attempting to blackmail supermodel Cindy Crawford has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Edis Kayalar, 26, surrendered to German authorities in November after he was charged in Los Angeles with trying to extort 62,500 pounds from Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber over a controversial photo of their daughter.

The picture showed the girl, who was seven years old at the time, tied to a chair and wearing revealing clothing during a game of 'cops and robbers', reports the Daily Star.

Gerber is said to have paid Kayalar, an acquaintance of the family's former nanny, 625 pounds to prevent him from selling the photo to the media.

However, he had to turn to officials at America's Federal Bureau of Investigation when the crook made further demands for cash.

According to German website Thelocal.de, he was convicted of attempted blackmail at a court in the town of Kirchheim unter Teck, in southern Germany and handed a two-year prison sentence.

Judge Joachim Spieth told the court: "The attempt at blackmail was well-advanced until it failed." (ANI)