A Leamington man has been sentenced to 12 months jail after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.
The OPP arrested 35-year-old Glen Hawkins on July 31, 2017 after finding 961 images and 23 video clips of child porn with children ranging in age between 6 and 14.
Court heard Hawkins had been depressed and lonely and turned to the internet and chatrooms when the images were sent to him.
The images were deleted weeks later.
Justice Lloyd Dean said, "The internet is full of temptations and if a person is weak, they yield to that temptation."
He referred to the crime as a 'repulsive offence' and that Hawkins harmed the children by accessing the images.
Outside of the Ontario Court of Justice, Hawkins's defence lawyer Andrew Telford-Keogh says Hawkins regrets what he has done.
"It has had a really big impact on his family as well as himself, " he says. "He is a first offender, no criminal record, any experience with the justice has the potential to be traumatizing."
The defence had been asking for a jail term of 9-10 months while the crown was seeking 18-24 months.
Telford-Keogh says the sentence is reasonable and appropriate.
"I think it certainly sends a message, 12 months in custody is a very very serious sentence particularly for somebody without a criminal record and even after he gets out of custody, he will be subject conditions on a number of different orders."
After Hawkins is released from custody, he will be on probation for three years.