FORMER ABC presenter Andy Muirhead has been sentenced to a total of 10 months jail for child pornography offences.

Muirhead will be released in five months time after he was handed two separate sentences under State and Commonwealth laws.

He received three months for possession of child exploitation material but has already served two of those.

He received a seven month sentence for two offences of accessing child pornography under Commonwealth law to be served after the first sentence.

But Tasmanian Supreme Court Chief Justice Ewan Crawford said he would be released after four months of the Commonwealth sentence with a security deposit of $5000 and the requirement he be of good behaviour for three years.

The 36-year-old had pleaded guilty to the three charges of accessing and possessing child exploitation material, some of it described as ''sadistic" and featuring children as young as three.

The former host of the ABC television show Collectors and its Hobart breakfast radio program viewed thousand of images over 16 months, at times on a daily basis.

His psychologist Dr Janet Baines told the court last month he was not a peadophile and viewed the material as a result of work stress.

Chief Justice Ewan Crawford rejected Muirhead's claim he had no sexual interest in children.

Muirhead apologised for his offences in a letter read by his lawyer, Kim Baumeler, in July.

He was first charged in June 2010 after the Australian Federal Police received information from Interpol.

Originally published as Andy Muirhead jailed over child porn