A man convicted of possessing thousands of images of child pornography is to walk free from prison after a year was cut from his three year sentence.

Bryan O'Byrne (33) with a previous address at Newbridge Avenue in Sandymount pleaded guilty to having the images at his home on December 9th 2008.

He was jailed for three years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last year but has today won an appeal against the severity of his sentence.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has ruled that the sentencing judge placed insufficient weight on mitigating factors such as his very troubled childhood, his lack of relevant previous convictions, and the fact he has received addiction therapy.

The court heard he had often accessed the images while drinking.

In a written decision, the three-judge court noted that child pornography is still a 'pretty new and murky area' and that sentencing for such offences is 'not a well worn or well lit path'.

Gardai raided Bryan O'Byrne's home in 2008 after the Paedophile Investigation Unit received international information about his computer activities. A number of items including a computer, four hard drives, a modem and a memory stick were seized.

Child porn content was found on three of the hard drives and included 3,200 child porn movies.

The ages of the children depicted ranged from very young to early teens and on a scale used to rank such images many were placed at the second highest or possibly the highest level of seriousness.

Under the terms of his new sentence Mr. O'Byrne will remain under post release supervision for the next three years.