Locations
Castlemaine Avenue, Croydon, London, CR2
Description
Michael Lai aged 61 collected vile pornography which showed children as young as nine being subjected to horrific abuse.
He appeared at the Old Bailey Friday 4th August and pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing indecent images of children.
When National Crime Agency officers raided Michael’s home on Castlemaine Avenue, Croydon, in November 2019 he confessed that he’d been downloading indecent images.
He also told officers that a computer tower and three hard drives in his home belonged to his brother William, prosecutor Alice Holloway said.
An inspection of the devices revealed that they contained indecent images of children dating back to January 2015.
A total of 35,101 images were attributed to Michael.
He added: “You must understand that those are images of real children being abused, children who will have to live knowing that those images are out there for the rest of their lives.”
Judge Medland explained that the brothers had not been charged until March 2023 and that he was obliged to take that three-year delay into consideration when sentencing them.
He said: “In coming to that decision I want nobody to think that this court doesn’t take this offence very seriously. It is disgusting and offensive and it must stop.
Michael will be on the sex offenders register for ten years and will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order. He was fined £2,500.