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A tip from a German computer crime squad has led to a 25-year-old man being sent to prison for possessing and distributing massive amounts of child pornography on the Internet.

Alberta provincial court Judge Frank Maloney sentenced William Eric Hughes of Calgary to two years in a federal prison after he pleaded guilty to the charge.

Judge Maloney said the penalty, part of a joint submission by Crown prosecutor Steve Bilodeau and defence lawyer Mark Tyndale, was warranted because Mr. Hughes had a similar conviction in 2001 and it didn't deter him.

"This is a very serious offence before the court," Judge Maloney said Monday. "He has a prior record and there was a significant volume of material involved."

Mr. Bilodeau told court the investigation began after German computer police logged on to an Internet chat site hosted out of Amsterdam on Jan. 26 and made contact with a suspect using the nickname "hackman3." The suspect then uploaded 15 images containing explicit hardcore child pornography.

Investigators were then able to trace his Internet provider address back to Calgary and notified police on March 9. That led to a warrant that uncovered 2,900 images and 35 movie files in a computer in Mr. Hughes's northeast Calgary basement suite.

Court heard Mr. Hughes later told police he had 14 gigabytes of child pornography and was a "collector."

He "not only uploaded child pornography, but he had created a file server on his system so unauthorized users could freely download any of his collection," said Mr. Bilodeau.

Mr. Tyndale said his client pleaded guilty 12 days after his arrest and hopes to take advantage of appropriate sexual deviancy programs while incarcerated.

"He wishes to take responsibility, do his time and get help, which he'll be able to do in a federal prison, and then he can start his life over."