Henry Chau: Pianist who killed parents, chopped up bodies and cooked them 'like barbecued pork' sentenced to life in prison

Chau kept their heads in refrigerators in a friend’s blood stained apartment

He kept their heads in refrigerators in a friend’s blood stained apartment (AFP)

A man who killed his parents, chopped up their bodies, cooked the flesh and packed it into lunchboxes with rice has been sentenced to life in prison.

A court in Hong Kong heard how Henry Chau dismembered the bodies of his elderly mother and father before salting them and cooking them “like barbecued pork” last year.

He kept their heads in refrigerators in a friend’s blood stained apartment, which were discovered two weeks after he killed them in March 2014.

A search on his computer also found Chau had looked at blood-taking methods and had compiled a shopping list featuring items such as knives, refrigerators and bleach.

The 31-year-old pianist was found guilty of two counts of murder at the Court of First Instance and sentenced to life in prison, the South China Morning Post reports.

Sentencing him, Mr Justice Michael Stuart-Moore said: "People may wonder why you did this. The fact there is no obvious answer is what makes you so dangerous.”

He added: "You fail in everything but the piano. You always blame your faults on others but not yourself […] your parents became the victims of your blame."

Chau was also sentenced to an additional nine years and four months in prison for preventing the lawful burials of his parents.

Co-defendant Tse Chun-kei, 38, who admitted unlawfully dealing with the bodies, was acquitted of murder. The heads and plastic boxes containing salted body parts were discovered Tse’s flat, where Chau had been staying for five days before their murder.

Chau also reportedly told a psychiatrist he had listened to Alexander Scriabin’s piano piece 'Vers la flamme' repeatedly for 30 days before killing his parents.