A repeat child porn collector caught with more than 20,000 images of pornography and child nudity didn't learn his lesson, a judge said before sending him to jail.

Richard Claxton, 51, was sentenced to 15 months Thursday -- a jump from the nine-month conditional sentence and 18 months probation he served six years ago.

"Frankly, I find that Mr. Claxton has not learned from his prior involvement with the criminal justice system," said Superior Court Justice Andrew Goodman.

Claxton was arrested in November 2011 after a foreign student living with him and his wife discovered a cache of images on Claxton's computer.

Claxton pleaded guilty last fall and was hoping for a sentence of no more than 90 days that he could serve on weekends so he could look after his ailing wife and keep working as a truck driver.

Goodman noted that Claxton was a co-operative participant in counselling and did testing that showed he had an sexual attraction to young or prepubescent children.

Claxton also told the court he was remorseful.

Goodman said child pornography is "repugnant and degrading" and "a scourge on society and poses a danger to the community."

And while Claxton's collection was of children in provocative poses and did not show children in the most violent and degrading sexual ways, the number of images collected was "staggering" and the largest collection Goodman had been told of in any porn case he has heard.

The Crown had asked for a sentence of 18 to 24 months -- a term that Goodman said was appropriate, but was willing to reduce because of Claxton's wife's health.