He is out on bail already.
The legal system looking after one of their own. No-one else would have been given 2 days warning that his laptop was going to be raided.
One can only imagine that the hard disc that is ,missing contained the worst of the videos.
Power out on bail - DPP faces questions
Power jailed for 15 months
THE disgraced former crown prosecutor Patrick Power walked free on bail yesterday as the NSW Government called on Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery to account for his actions after child pornography was discovered on Power's personal computer.
Power, 54, was sentenced to a minimum eight months' jail after 433 images of child pornography and 31 child pornography videos - some depicting sex acts involving children aged under 10 - were uncovered last year.
But he was released on bail two hours after his sentencing at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court.
The NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said he had asked Mr Cowdery for a full account of "his actions, and the actions of his office, regarding the case of Patrick Power".
Mr Hatzistergos said he was considering the judgement of NSW Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson.
"I have today sought a full account of the DPP's actions, and the actions of his office regarding the case of Patrick Power," he said.
Mr Hatzistergos said the position of Liberal MP Greg Smith, who was the deputy DPP until November 2006, was a matter for Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell.
Mr Smith, the Opposition's legal affairs spokesman, came under fire from the Government last year.
On July 4, Mr Smith alerted Power that child pornography had been found on his computer before he informed police.
Power had taken his computer to work at the DPP's office to have repairs carried out.
Power stood down from his
position as a deputy senior crown prosecutor and on July 6 was charged with one count of possessing child pornography.
He pleaded guilty to the charge in January and resigned two weeks later.
At yesterday's sentencing, Mr Henson said few people were better placed than Power to realise the gravity of his actions.
A packed court heard that for years while working as one of the state's top prosecutors, Power was secretly amassing pornographic pictures and videos, some involving boys under 10 years old.
Investigators uncovered almost 29,000 images on his computer hard drive.
Most featured homosexual pornography but 433 images depicted children in sexual acts.
Technicians also found 31 videos showing adults engaged in sex acts with children in a folder entitled "Good".
Mr Henson said the images were "distressing and disheartening", while one "wicked and evil" 23-minute video - showing the infliction of pain on a child - fell into the worst category of child porn.
Power sat with his head bowed throughout the sentencing.
Former Supreme Court judge Roderick Meagher, crown prosecutors and senior defence barristers were among the 59 people who provided references to the court, attesting to his good character.
According to psychiatric evidence Power was not a paedophile, but was driven to download child porn by his internet addiction.
Power, whose practising certificate has been suspended by the NSW Bar Association, also had a long history of depression.
Mr Henson said Power "nonetheless well knew what he was doing and that it was manifestly unlawful".
He tried to disguise the child porn under names such as "Thesis backup" in order "to prevent the possibility of their being found by someone who might take issue with their nature and legality".
The court previously heard that a second hard drive - believed to contain more child porn - was missing and that Power had two days to hide or destroy it before his Darlinghurst home was searched.
However, Mr Henson did not consider it an aggravating factor.
Following a late defence application, Mr Henson granted Power conditional bail to prepare for an appeal hearing on June 14. Yesterday's sentence was slammed by child protection advocate Hetty Johnston who called for legal change.
"When is the court and the law going to take into account what is happening to the children?" she said outside court.
"The maximum sentences for these kinds of crimes are absolutely appalling - they do not recognise the severity of it."