The sentence means Mr Chapman qualifies for immediate release, having already spent a year and a half behind bars awaiting trial – including six months in a Brazilian jail so horrific that it was featured in a United Nations report. "Corruption, in particular corruption of a public official is a very serious problem," Judge Grieve said, saying this week's anti-corruption summit in London highlighted this fact. He quoted an appeal court judge who had called corruption an "insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on society", and an "evil phenomenon" that was a key contributor to poverty in the developing world. "The offences are undoubtedly so serious that only a custodial sentence is justified," Judge Grieve said on Thursday. However Judge Grieve said that above the "inherent seriousness" of the four counts of bribery for which Mr Chapman was found guilty, there were no additional aggravating features.

In mitigation, he said the bribes had been paid over just three months in early 2009. And the total sum of the bribes, about £143,000 ($282,000) was substantial but "small in comparison" to other bribes that Securency had paid in other parts of the world. "I accept that you were put under considerable pressure by your superiors to achieve sales and you complained about that to them," Judge Grieve said, adding this was a significant factor in mitigating the sentence. "Senior management from the managing director down gave you the go-ahead (for the bribes)," he said. "The prosecution case throughout was that you acted with their encouragement or at least their connivance." He also accepted that Mr Chapman's experience in prison in Brazil had been "to put it mildly, very unpleasant". Mr Chapman's barrister David Spens QC told the court that in addition to 358 days in jail in the UK awaiting trial, his client had spent 162 days in custody in Brazil pending extradition.

He was held for those six months in the Ary Franco prison, which featured in a United Nations committee report on torture in Brazil. "They found the conditions reflected pronounced disregard for the dignity of inmates," Mr Spens said. The cells were dilapidated, "generally dark, filthy, stuffy and infested with cockroaches and other insects". Each cell had two bunk beds but held up to 30 prisoners, many sleeping on the floor. Poor maintenance resulted in serious health problems for inmates. In some cells sewage leaked from the ceilings. "It's pretty shocking," Mr Spens said.