Doctors said Jan Anders Sellin, 73, suffered from multiple health problems including obesity, diabetes, a perforated esophagus and a thinned abdominal wall, all of which would contribute to him being vulnerable in a prison environment.

“There is the possibility that a fall in custody would increase further the current injury to the thin abdominal wall….there’s the potential for others to run into him or him to trip and fall resulting in an injury to the abdomen,” the doctor wrote in a report presented to Wollongong District Court during Sellin’s sentencing proceedings.

The doctor also said Sellin currently slept in an upright bed, and suggested he “would not cope” with sleeping in a bunk bed if housed with other inmates.

Despite the medical concerns, Judge Paul Conlon found there was no penalty other than full-time prison that adequately addressed Sellin’s criminal behaviour.

“Child pornography is not a victimless crime,” he said, noting the damage to the abused children was often “profound”.

The court heard police discovered the illegal material by chance after being summoned to the house by a concerned neighbour on October 29, 2012.

Sellin was found lying on the floor in a distressed state, unable to get up. While paramedics assisted him, police noticed his laptop displaying a sexually explicit image of three young girls.

Detectives obtained a search warrant later that day and seized multiple electronic devices, on which illegal material was later found.

In handing down the sentence in court on Thursday, Judge Conlon noted the amount of illegal material found was “not insignificant”, but accepted that Sellin’s possession of it had occurred in the course of his “daily viewing” of pornography.

He also accepted Sellin could be targetted in jail owing to his 17-year career with the Australian Federal Police, which ended in 1987 due to stress.

Sellin will be released on parole in September.