A FORMER pizza shop worker with a fetish for animated child porn will find out today if he will spend time behind bars.

Nathan Gianoncelli, 25, was described by his own lawyer as “somewhat of an unusual person” and a loner whose only social outlet was the world of online gaming.

Barrister Michael Dalton said his client “showed an unhealthy attachment to the internet” during years of accessing animated child pornography, which progressed up to actual child porn in the final few months of his offending in late 2014.

Mr Gianoncelli has pleaded guilty to two counts of using a carriage service to access child pornography material and one count each of use of a carriage service to transmit child pornography and possess child exploitation material.

The court heard police raided his home in December 2014 and found three hard drives containing 10,000 child porn images. A number were rated at “level four” of this type of offending. Some of the offending stretched back more than a decade.

Commonwealth prosecutor Patrick Berends said the anime porn proved a “gateway” to more serious offending and Gianoncelli was “morally culpable”.

“The offender has been methodical in his activities,” he said.

But Mr Dalton argued the “bulk” of the images were anime and despite one of the charges carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years’ jail, the most serious offending only took place in the final few months.

He said a medical report said his mental health issues were improving to a stage where he was now considered a “low risk” of reoffending and suggested Judge Brian Harrison could potentially grant immediate parole.

The court heard Mr Gianoncelli had not been back online since his 2014 arrest and he had reintegrated into society by joining a game group that participates in role-playing card game Magic the Gathering.