PORTLAND – A former high school English teacher who was described as “a true child predator” has been handed an 18-month prison term for possessing child pornography on his computer.

Melvin Logan, 67, of Portland was sentenced Thursday in Cumberland County Superior Court to seven years with all but 18 months suspended, followed by six years of probation.

Logan, formerly of Windham, was found guilty by a jury earlier this month of 19 counts of possessing sexually explicit material.

“We have to send a message,” said Justice Thomas Warren, noting that the photos Logan had on the computer “represent some child being exploited in one of the most reprehensible ways imaginable.”

The Legislature recently made it a felony to possess pornographic images of children clearly under the age of 12. At the time of Logan’s arrest in 2004, that crime was classified as a misdemeanor, carrying a maximum sentence of a year in prison.

“This would have been a different sentence had [the crime] been committed today,” Warren said at the end of the 3 1/2-hour hearing.