An Englishman (33) who was caught with over 2,000 child pornographic images has received a two-year suspended jail sentence.
Colin Ashman had pleaded guilty in November 2002 to possessing 2,343 child porn images on a computer at his home at Tooreenfineen, Rockchapel, in Co Cork contrary to Section 6.1 of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998.
At Cork Circuit Criminal Court today, barrister for Ashman, who moved to Ireland from Bristol in 1994, said that his client had been receiving psychiatric treatment for 14 months and that he was no longer at risk of reoffending.
Judge Patrick Moran pointed out that the maximum penalty for the offence was five years.
However because of Ashman's previous good character, his guilty plea, his obtaining of psychiatric assistance and the unlikelihood of him reoffending, he considered the appropriate penalty a two-year suspended jail sentence.
