IN the secrecy of his bedroom over five years, Herbert Hall downloaded hundreds of images and scores of videos of children in pornographic poses or acts.Described by his solicitor in Wagga Local Court yesterday as an above- average student as a 14-year-old in 2004, Hall for some reason became reclusive and over the next five years increasingly turned to his computer for company. Last September, police executed a search warrant on the then-20-year-old's Tolland home.They seized a computer hard drive that contained 5150 images, of which 3400 were viewed and 731 found to contain child pornography.There were 159 videos, of which 61 were viewed and 21 found to contain pornography.More than half the still images were found to be rated five out of 10 on the Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe (COPINE) scale.A rating of five is given to images of children in erotic poses.Two images were rated 10, the worst category when images show sadistic behaviour or bestiality.All the videos were rated five or above, including two rated 10, the court heard.As 21-year-old Hall stood shaking, magistrate Anthony Murray sentenced him to 18 months in jail, with a non-parole period of nine months, after Hall had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of producing, disseminating or possessing child pornography.After being told Hall was depressed and a suicide risk, Mr Murray used a red marker to endorse the man's remand warrant as him being a possible self-harm risk. In passing sentence, Mr Murray said possessing child pornography was a form of child abuse and penalties for possessing such pornography had been doubled last year to reflect the community's condemnation of the offence. In asking Mr Murray not to send his client to jail, Legal Aid solicitor, PC Reddy, said psychological reports indicated Hall was a low risk of reoffending and he was a young man who had good prospects of rehabilitation.He said Hall had sought help for his problem after being charged by police, had started offending when he was young and immature and had learned his lesson. "He has learned he must take responsibility for this child exploitation," Mr Reddy said.Police prosecutor, Sergeant Priscilla Jones, called for a jail sentence for Hall.