A collection of child pornography made up almost entirely of animated images has landed a St. Catharines man in jail for nine months.

Randy Taylor, 54, of Roehampton Ave. pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography Tuesday.

Acting Niagara North Attorney Marquis Felix said there were 132 images and five videos on Taylor’s computer that police said fit the definition of child pornography.

Of the images, 120 were anime, or Japanese animated pictures.

“Although the photos are not of real children, they are still offensive, they are still reflective of child pornography,” Felix said in the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines.

He told the court it was difficult to determine a specific range of sentence. “He shouldn’t be congratulated for having anime instead of real children,” Felix said.

Taylor appeared on police radar on July 3, 2012 during an investigation of an Internet chat room by the Toronto Police child exploitation section.

Using the name Randy1, Taylor conveyed his interest in child pornography to an undercover officer, providing the ages of children he was interested in and sexual preferences. He directed the officer to another website to read a story about the sexual assault of an eight or nine-year-old female.

During the ongoing chat, Taylor referred the officer to several links with pictures of child pornography. Toronto police contacted the NRP, which investigated Randy1’s IP address. On Sept. 14, 2012 police searched Taylor’s residence and seized his computer electronics, finding the images.

Felix said Taylor co-operated with police and assisted them with passwords.

Taylor’s lawyer Andrew Burton said Taylor has been employed all of his adult life and most recently as a machinist. He hasn’t been working since his September 2012 arrest and at that time was in a common-law relationship.

Burton said Taylor has never been in trouble with the law.

“It’s a very significant jail sentence… for a man who’s never been engaged in the criminal justice system before.”

The nine-month jail term was a joint submission. With 21 days pre-sentence credit, Taylor will serve eight months and nine days plus three years of probation.

Judge Joseph Nadel told Taylor offenders sometimes question what the harm is in child pornography, but it’s dangerous for a variety of reasons.

Nadel said it normalizes pedophilia as a sexual preference which it’s not and desensitizes the offender to the pornography. Materials are also used to convince child victims that child pornography is OK.

Nadel said some of the images Taylor owned were of real children and those children were subjected to the behaviour. They will grow up knowing those pictures exist.

The mere possession of this kind of material can have a vastly harmful effect on children, Nadel said.

The sentence:

• nine months in jail
• three years probation
• lifetime ban from using a computer for communicating with anyone under 16
• lifetime ban from taking a job or a volunteer position in authority over people under 16
• 10-year prohibition from going to a public park, swimming area or playground where children under 16 are likely to be present
• 10 years on the sex offender registry
• during probation, can’t use a computer, unless under adult supervision with the consent of his probation officer