Man with child porn images jailed

A man found with thousands of child porn images, including some involving infants, was labelled callous and inhuman by a Sydney judge who sentenced him to six years in prison.

Nigel Keith Saddler pleaded guilty earlier this year to possessing 35,508 images and 680 movie files of "the most disturbing and depraved kind", NSW District Court Judge Peter Berman said.

Saddler, 34, was arrested on July 22 last year outside St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney's inner-city suburb of Darlinghurst.

A search of his vehicle revealed a small quantity of cannabis and an external computer hard drive containing thousands of child pornography images.

The following day, police executed a search warrant at Saddler's home in Darlington, in inner Sydney, seizing more computer hardware, CDs and DVDs used to store similar material.

The graphic images featured children aged from 15 years to just months old.

Many of the images were of adults sexually abusing and mutilating children, but some showed children being forced to perform sex acts on each other and animals.

"Even if the offender spent only 10 seconds viewing each image, it would have taken him about 100 hours of continuous viewing to get through everything he had," Justice Berman told the court.

"The callousness and inhumanity of a person who could get pleasure out of viewing such images is beyond comprehension."

Judge Berman said viewing child pornography could escalate into abuse of children.

"I am not suggesting that that has happened in this case, but I am suggesting that it is one of the many reasons which makes the possession of child pornography such a serious offence," he said.

Saddler came from a respected family and had benefited from a "very good upbringing", Judge Berman said, noting that he had been jailed for other offences, including sexual assault.

Saddler pleaded guilty to the three counts of possession, relating to images on the three computer devices found in his car and home.

Each count carries a maximum jail term of five years.

Judge Berman said the six-year sentence he handed down, with a non-parole period of four years and six months, took into account Saddler's guilty plea.

But, he said, the maximum penalty for the charges was "inadequate" since people found with child pornography did not face a charge in relation to each image in their possession.

"However, that is not a matter which can influence me in my determination of the appropriate sentences for these matters," Judge Berman said.

"It is not for me to overcome what I consider to be the inadequacy of the maximum penalty by failing to apply proper sentencing principles."

Saddler has remained in custody since his arrest, which makes him eligible for parole on January 21, 2012.