Businessman admits possessing huge haul of child pornography

A married businessman pleaded guilty yesterday to possessing a huge amount of child pornography downloaded from the internet over the course of three years.

The District Court heard that during a raid on his Tai Po home Sailing Lau Ying-sau, 48, was caught with 27,260 photos and 470 video clips stored in two desktop computers and three memory sticks. Police had acted after a tip-off.

The Commercial Crime Bureau said the collection was the largest on record since the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance came into effect in December 2003.

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.