Child porn term may be Canada’s longest

A former top- level defence department physicist convicted of his third set of child pornography charges has been sentenced to almost four years in prison, believed the longest jail term for such offences in Canada.

Blair Evans was arrested on June 14, 2004, several weeks after he was caught using computers in a York University library and Yonge St. Internet café to access child porn chat rooms, in defiance of probation orders.

“ The point must be made that society will not tolerate this behaviour,” Justice Richard Schneider said yesterday in passing sentence. “Possession of child pornography creates a market for child pornography and as a result a further exploitation of children.”

Police found hundreds of child porn images on a computer drive in Evans’ home.

Last June, he pleaded guilty in provincial court to failing to comply with probation, and of accessing and possessing child porn. Yesterday, the judge credited him 34 months for 17 months pre- trail custody, leaving him 13 to serve.

In 1999, Evans’ first charges captured public attention in Ottawa, where he worked on topsecret defence department research. He was convicted of distributing and possessing child porn and given eight months in jail. He lost his job as a result.

In 2002, he was convicted in Toronto of possessing child porn and breaking probation. He was jailed two years on top of 159 days pre- trial custody. Crown prosecutor Mary Humphrey said she was happy with the latest sentence, the longest for child porn she knows of in Ontario. The judge “ sent a clear message that … the possession of child pornography is not a victimless crime,” she said.

David Butt, of Beyond Borders, which tracks such crimes, says he has not heard of a longer child porn jailing in Canada. He called it an important step forward in “ recognizing that possession of child pornography is a form of child abuse.”