A restaurant cook who downloaded more than 7,000 images showing horrific sexual abuse of children, including a “drugged” six-year-old, has been spared jail.

Hing Lau’s depravity was revealed when police, acting on intelligence, went to his address at the China China takeaway in Lyminge and seized five devices.

In these they found a catalog of indecent images and videos of young people aged two to seven.

Canterbury Crown Court heard there were 967 images classified as category A (the most serious level), of which 1,054 were in category B and a staggering 5,029 were in category C.

Prosecutor Ben Wild said the victims in the category A images were aged between two and four and included a six-year-old child who “appeared to have been drugged”.

Images in the other two classifications depicted young people between the ages of 2 and 7.

Lau, 64, who now lives in Mill Hill in Ottinge, near Canterbury, was arrested following a raid in October 2021.

He later admitted three offenses of taking indecent photographs of children between August and September that year.

Lau was said to have made full admissions about his arrest, although he gave a ‘no comment’ interview to police and did not admit guilt until the case reached the crown court in September this year.

Defender Naeem Karbhari said at the sentencing hearing on Friday, November 8, that Lau had now lost his previous good character and had lived in the United Kingdom for 55 years without committing any crime.

Recorder Sarah Counsell said although she had “anxiously” considered whether to send him to prison immediately, there were other ways to punish him given his guilty plea, remorse and hopes for rehabilitation.

Imposing a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years, the judge told Lau through a Cantonese translator: “You are fully committed to downloading and viewing these obscene images for many reasons.

“Partly to relieve boredom, partly to ease your feelings of loneliness, but also to satisfy your sexual interests.”

But Recorder Counsell added that the pre-sentence report showed Lau was “sorry for what he did” and was beginning to understand the “catastrophic” impact such crimes have on victims.

He also said that his difficulties in expressing himself in English as a second language may have led his lawyer to advise him not to answer police questions and not to state his defense in the magistrates’ court.

As part of the suspended sentence order, Lau must complete 240 hours of unpaid work and 45 rehabilitation activity requirements.

He must also sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and be subject to a sexual harm prevention order restricting him from using internet-enabled devices for the same period and banning him from having unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 unless the law requires it. the course of daily life.

Lau, who was said to be working six days a week, was told to pay £1,000 towards prosecution costs within 21 days.

Although it is not said why it took three years for the case to reach court, it is known that such police investigations are often delayed by the time it takes to analyze electronic devices.