Morris appeared before Tamworth Local Court on two charges of produce, disseminate or ossess child-abuse material.

On the first charge Morris was sentenced to 18 months’ jail with a non-parole period of nine months, backdated to December 10 last year.

He received nine months for the second charge, to be served concurrently.

The charges stem from an incident on September 1, 2012, when a member of the public found a Nokia mobile phone in the City Plaza shopping centre’s disabled toilets.

The finder handed the phone in to police on September 3, with police accessing the phone and finding images of child pornography.

The phone was seized and its serial number retrieved, which led police to Morris.

Security camera footage obtained by police from the shopping centre’s security camera system showed Morris working as a trolley collector in the area of the disabled toilets.

The footage showed Morris entering and leaving the toilets around the time the phone was found.

Detectives found 119 images of child pornography on the mobile phone.

On September 19 last year police spoke with the accused. 

Morris was arrested and cautioned.

He was in possession of another mobile phone, a Samsung, which also contained pornographic images of children.

Investigations found a large number in a folder on the phone.

During the interview, Morris told police he was aware that the images were child pornography.

“I’ve got a sick mind to even look at those pictures: I need help,” he said.