Lau admitted downloading the material - which included children as young as one - for his own viewing and did not share his collection with anyone. But most of the material was category one - defined by police as the least serious on the list of one to five.

In mitigation, legislator Li Kwok-ying, Tai Po district councillor Wan Hok-lim, and Lau's family addressed letters to the court describing him as a 'charitable, popular, honest and reputable' merchant in the catering trading and a 'responsible father'.

Deputy district judge Henry Mierczak described the case as 'a serious matter' and he was 'very worried about the sheer volume' of material seized.

He adjourned sentencing to February 8, pending background, psychiatric and psychology reports. Lau, who was remanded in custody, could face a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of HK$1 million.

The judge said he would send Lau to prison but still had to decide on the length of the sentence. The court was not presented with any evidence of the psychological status of the father of two, whose wife and 18-year-old university student son were in court to support him.

On May 10 last year, Lau was arrested at his home in San Wah On Lane.

The computers and memory sticks were seized inside his reading room.

The court heard the material he found online was locked and required password access. Lau searched the Web and sometimes guessed the passwords.

The files, which he said he frequently viewed, were stored in different directories according to their web source, the court heard.

Barrister Gordon Wong, for Lau, said in mitigation that his client was remorseful for what he had done. He had committed the offence partly due to ignorance of the law as he did not realise the serious consequences of his actions.

The family had suffered a serious blow and Lau had put himself and his family to great shame, Mr Wong added.

Since the enforcement of the ordinance, 52 people have been arrested. Of these, 26 had been convicted by June last year.