Ronald Bruce Wilson, 43, was sentenced on Tuesday by Judge Hulme on six charges of possessing child pornography.

The Local Court had sentenced Wilson, formerly of Bassett Drive, Bathurst, to a cumulative four years' gaol but he appealed against the severity of the sentences.

He had been found in possession of almost 15,000 images, 541 movies and 236 sexually explicit stories relating to children under 16 years of age.

In giving evidence this week, Wilson said he had accessed the images from public photo galleries that anyone could get on the net.

Wilson told his barrister Bill Walsh that at the time he was accessing images he gave no thought to the fact he might be exploiting minors.

Since being brought to court Wilson said he'd been regretful and had been embarrassed having to tell his parents, family, friends and work colleagues about the charges.

He had lost the job he'd held for 23 years and moved to live with his elderly parents.

Wilson told Director of Public Prosecutions solicitor Natalie Olender his accessing the images had not been for profit or gain. He'd exchanged images in chat rooms, Wilson said.

Judge Hulme commented on the objective gravity in Wilson's case, saying it had been a significant volume of material he had collected.

Some of the images were of children as young as three years, which the judge said was very significant.

Friends of Wilson gave character evidence to the court. They described him as a good, caring and helpful person.

During his summing up of the case, Judge Hulme referred to statistics the court could take into account on sentencing. He said there had been a small number of similar cases dealt with under 2004 legislation and 35 of 45 accused had had no prior criminal record.

The judge said 39 of the 45 accused had pleaded guilty and 36 per cent had been given fixed gaol terms, with 28 per cent given suspended sentences, periodic detention or community services orders.

Judge Hulme determined that Wilson's original sentences had overall been excessive. He sentenced Wilson to 12 months' gaol with a non-parole period of six months and six months of supervised parole for possession of the 14,796 images, and a fixed three months' gaol on the charges related to possession of 541 movies and 236 stories.

Judge Hulme had found special circumstances in Wilson's case, saying the accused had come before the court as a 43-year-old man with an otherwise blemish-free record.