Sentencing delayed for former judo coach who pleaded guilty to child porn charges

**Content warning**

A former judo coach who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges will have to wait a little longer to find out his fate.

Bryan Jeffery McLachlan, 49, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography and one count of importing and distributing child pornography in June 2019.

At a sentencing hearing Monday, court heard police began investigating McLachlan on Sept. 18, 2017, when RCMP received a tip from the B.C. Integrated Child Exploitation Unit about seven images of child pornography uploaded on Aug. 30 and Sept. 1 via Yahoo messenger.

A forensic examination conducted during a search of McLachlan’s phone and home computer found 55 images of child pornography located inside a shared Yahoo messenger folder.

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Crown counsel Margaret Cissel said the images were of female children between the ages of 10 to 18 and images of young children engaged in sexual acts.

Texts from McLachlan on a chat site dedicated to child pornography were also found. In the conversation he tells users about a pornographic photo.

Court heard the specific photo McLachlan referenced was of two girls who were formerly students of his at the Vernon Judo Club. The photos were taken from Facebook, which McLachlan then manipulated through Photoshop software to include his own genitals as if he were engaging in a sex act with the girls.

Cissell provided victim impact statements from both students, who said they once considered him as a ‘pseudo-father’ or father-figure.

Cissel added McLachlan’s transmission and creation of the pornography was purposeful and premeditated and called for a 12 to 18-month concurrent jail sentence to be followed by a three-year probation.

“Those images that he created now live and exist and will continue to do so as there is no possible way to retrieve them,” she said. “He was callous as to the effects that the distribution of these images would have on these two young girls.”

Defence lawyer Nicholas Jacob argued for a lesser 90-day intermittent sentence that would be served on weekends followed by three years of probation.

He argued the Photoshopped image containing the two victims demonstrated a depiction of sexual activity most viewers could reasonably assume was fake.

“In my submission, those pictures are extremely crude, like crudely manufactured in the sense that no one viewing those pictures would reasonably believe that either of the girls was actually engaged in sexual activity,” Jacob said.

Jacob requested an intermittent sentence to permit McLachlan the ability to provide for his wife and three children, adding he is the primary caregiver in the household. He added at the time of the offences McLachlan suffered from depression and alcoholism after his daughter became ill.

A pre-sentence report determined McLachlan is a low risk to reoffend.

A package of support letters was submitted to the court describing McLachlan as a hard-working family man, including one from his boss who described McLachlan as “an excellent employee that he does not want to have to replace.”

Jacob said some friends questioned whether McLachlan is on the autism spectrum after his son was formally diagnosed. The doctor in that case noted McLachlan shared similar behaviour traits as his son, particularly his introversion and difficulty following social cues.

A psychological report initiated by the court does not make the diagnosis but “all signs point to having an issue that way where he has trouble connecting with others and following social cues,” Jacob said.

In concluding his argument, Jacob stated that his client is remorseful and has been publicly humiliated because of the amount of media attention the case received.

Judge Dennis Morgan reserved sentencing for a later date.