Hong Kong man Henry Chau, who dismembered and cooked his parents, jailed for life

The conviction of Henry Chau, 31, on Friday concluded a gruesome case that shocked the city in 2013 when the severed heads of Chau's elderly parents were found stuffed into two refrigerators.

During the 20-day trial at the city's high court, the jury heard how Chau had dismembered his elderly parents before salting, cooking and packing their body parts into lunchboxes "like barbecued pork".

"Your sentence on Count 1 and Count 2 is that you go to prison for life," judge Michael Stuart-Moore told Chau, referring to the double murder charges.

Sitting in the defendant's dock, Chau, who wore a loose-fitting grey suit, looked impassive as the sentence was passed down.

Judge Stuart-Moore handed Chau an additional nine years and four months in jail for two separate charges of preventing the lawful burials of his parents, which he admitted earlier.

The sentences will be served concurrently, he said.

The judge described Chau as "narcissistic" and "preoccupied with fantasies for success".

"In practice, you have no feelings for other people," he said, adding Chau was a "highly dangerous individual".

The heads of 65-year-old Chau Wing Ki and his wife Siu Yuet Yee, 62, were found in March 2013 in two fridges in a bloodstained apartment, days after the elderly couple were reported missing.

Other remains were found in a rubbish bin and packed into lunchboxes with rice.

Chau initially told police that his parents had gone to mainland China, but later admitted the murder to a friend via a mobile messaging app.

In evidence read to the court last year, Chau claimed that he planned to mislead the police in order to buy himself some time to say goodbye to friends.