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A farrier, who filmed himself having sex with a cow before forcing a miniature horse to penetrate him, has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison.

Richard McNair, from Waikato, New Zealand, also possessed more than 20,000 pornographic images featuring both children and animals.

McNair, 50, worked at a farm between October 1, 2016 and October 1, 2017, when he filmed the sexual encounter with a young female cow.

He then helped a miniature horse to penetrate him between August 2017 and October 2017.

McNair was jailed for three years and five months for bestiality and possessing and distributing child and bestiality pornography.

He pleaded guilty to the charges of possession of objectionable material, distribution of objectionable material and bestiality.

(Image: Google Streetview)

An apology letter was read out at Hamilton District Court in which McNair insisted he would never inflict abuse on a child.

The New Zealand Herald reports Judge Merelina Burnett refused to accept his apology and did not accept any claims of good character.

She said: "This begs the question as to whether you understand the nature and consequences of child pornography and the abuse of children.

"Your conduct, by definition, has someone else abusing these children for you."

Police arrested McNair after receiving a tip he was sharing and trading child pornography online.

In June last year, investigators caught McNair sharing two videos and 317 images from his collection online.

Police searched his home where they found more than 20,000 images, 7554 of which were sexual images of children as young as two.

New Zealand Police's Online Child Exploitation unit seized a laptop, USB sticks, GoPro, cellphones and tablets and his extensive collection was revealed.

He used labels such as child nudity, nudism, cartoon, fantasy and bestiality to categorise his collection.

McNair's lawyer, Shelia Cameron, said the defendant had a tough childhood and a "deep sense of shame" over his crimes.

She said: "He struggles with adult relationships, he's never had an intimate relationship, he lives in a form of extreme social isolation."

He had been undergoing counselling since his arrest in October last year and diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and avoidant personality disorder.