Former judo coach handed one-year jail sentence for child porn offences

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A former judo coach in Greater Vernon who pled guilty to child pornography charges has been sentenced to jail time.

Bryan Jeffrey McLachlan was sentenced in Vernon Provincial Court Thursday.

The 49-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography and another of importing and distributing child porn. He received an eight-month sentence for possession and 12 months for importing and distributing.

Dan McLaughlin from the B.C. Prosecution Service said McLachlan will serve the sentences concurrently and then face a two-year probationary period following his release.

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In their investigation, police conducted a forensic examination of McLachlan’s phone and home computer and located 55 images of child pornography inside a shared Yahoo messenger folder.

Last month when his sentencing hearing began, Crown prosecutor 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 one conversation, he told fellow users of a specific 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 during the sentence hearing. “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 at the hearing in November.

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.