Former probationary police officer Paul Boorman was yesterday sentenced to one year in prison for multiple counts of accessing child pornography.Boorman, 44, of Spring Hill, Warwick, pleaded guilty in April to 14 counts of knowingly accessing child pornography between November 9, 2008 and October 14, 2009.Speaking in Supreme Court yesterday, Crown counsel Garrett Byrne said that on October 14, 2009, police seized a grey laptop from the home where Boorman lived with his mother.A search of the computer revealed, among other pornography, a total of 88 pictures and 51 videos of children engaged in sexual activity.The images and videos are believed to have been downloaded via a peer-to-peer file sharing network.Following his arrest, Boorman was fired from the Police Service. He has since worked as a taxi operator.Mr Byrne said that the collection of offending videos was neither large nor small and were of varying extremity. On a scale of one to five, he said a small handful were “level five,” containing images of sadism and bestiality.Defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher said her client was not a paedophile, noting the majority of pornography discovered was not child porn, but said he had downloaded a variety of pornography in an attempt to deal with a sexual dysfunction.“This was part of a larger trolling for pornography, something to help him get past the issue he was experiencing,” Ms Christopher said.“This is not a case where there’s any suggestion that Paul Boorman has ever in any way interfered with children. There’s no suggestion he’s a paedophile.“It wasn’t a pointed effort to get that particular pornography because it’s not like that particular pornography stimulates him. He got nothing from it and he has ended up in court for it.”Justice Greaves however said that Boorman should have known better.Boorman apologised for his actions and the embarrassment he has caused his family and the Police Service, saying he had acted with poor judgment, but not “evil intent”.Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves noted that Boorman had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, which prevented a jury from having to view the images.Despite that, he said that child pornography offences are very serious and offenders should expect an immediate custodial sentence.He sentenced Boorman to 12 months imprisonment, followed by three years of probation, with conditions including that Boorman must participate in any approved programmes.