A British man has appeared in court in connection with the gruesome murders of two women - one of whom died six days before her body was discovered in a suitcase - in Hong Kong.

Ex-Winchester College student Rurik George Caton Jutting, named in a court document, had been arrested after the bodies of the women - reportedly sex workers from Indonesia - were found at his flat in the Wan Chai district of the former British colony in the early hours of Saturday.

The 29-year-old has been identified as a Cambridge-educated banker. Bank of America Merrill Lynch spokesman Paul Scanlon said a person with that name had worked at the bank until recently.

One of the dead women, named in a court document as Sumarti Ningsih, was killed on October 27, six days before her body was discovered in a suitcase on a balcony of the apartment.

The second victim, who was aged between 25 and 30 was found with wounds to her neck and buttock.

The two murder charges were read to Jutting, who wore black trousers and a black t-shirt, and he was remanded into custody to appear again on November 10.

Jutting had asked officers to investigate the scene at his apartment, police said.

Officers were called to the address in the early hours of Saturday and later seized a knife.

Following the arrest a neighbour told the South China Morning Post there had been a strange smell.

''There was a stink in the building like a dead animal,'' the man said. ''It was a shock because you would never expect something like this to happen in Hong Kong.''

The paper reported that there had been a series of ''shocking crimes'' in the city in recent months but added that it has a ''hard-earned and well deserved'' reputation as one of the safest cities in the world.