Former Vernon Judo coach pleads guilty to child pornography charges

Dressed in all black, a former Vernon Judo Club coach from Coldstream appeared in provincial court again Wednesday, June 26.

Bryan Jeffrey McLachlan, born in 1970, was initially facing three charges of possession of child pornography, accessing child pornography and importing and distributing child pornography. McLachlan’s first court appearance was in January 2018. He was further charged with a second count of possession and one count of publishing child pornography in April.

Defence lawyer Nicholas Jacob appeared as counsel for McLachlan. Jacob moved to blend two counts of possession of child pornography charges to capture the same time period (March 1, 2014 – August 30, 2017). The indictment was amended by the court.

“Now on that amended indictment, I have Mr. McLachlan’s instructions to elect a provincial court judge and enter a guilty plea to the amended count two and also to count five,” said Jacob.

Count five in question was an importing and distributing child pornography charge.

“I’m asking for a pre-sentence report and a psychiatric report with a risk assessment,” said Jacob.

A trial, originally set for July 15-16, was cancelled and McLachlan is set to return to court on Sept. 4 for sentencing.