Hants PC plays vital role in double murder probe

While the brutal murders took place in a Newcastle flat, 330 miles north of Southampton, it was a Hampshire Constabulary officer that played a key role in the ninemonth investigation.

PC Andy Lai, who left Hong Kong with his family to start a new life in Southampton in 1995, was this week singled out for praise by the parents of Zhen Xing Yang and Xi Zhou.

The young couple, who were both aged just 25, died in the most horrific circumstances on August 7 last year.

Miss Zhou was found lying facedown in the front bedroom with a gag forced into her mouth.

Her killer had bound her wrists with tape and then hit over the head with a heavy weapon, but she ultimately suffocated to death.

Her boyfriend was found in another bedroom.

Mr Yang had suffered 50 separate head injuries inflicted with a hammer and his throat had been cut.

Their cat was also killed and dumped in a basin under the bathroom sink.

Friends discovered their bodies two days later and just hours after the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games.

It was initially feared the murders were racially motivated and the case immediately took on global proportions.

PC Lai, Hampshire’s positive action recruitment officer, can remember the moment he first heard news of the killing. The 48- year-old recalled: “Two weeks earlier a pair of French students had been killed in London and the first thing I thought was that international students were being targeted.

“I then started to receive calls from the Chinese community who were concerned about what happened.

They were shocked, because everybody believes that England is a very safe place and wanted to know if the same thing could happen in Southampton.

“My family and friends in Hong Kong were also asking me how this could have happened. I told them that the case was in good hands and that they must trust the local police.”

Northumbria detectives knew cultural differences, as well as the language barrier, were going to prove a major challenge. In the weeks after the murders they issued a plea for Mandarin-speaking police officers in Britain to offer their services.

PC Lai – who has served for 29 years as an officer in Hong Kong and Hampshire – answered the SOS and left his family behind on the south coast to live in Newcastle for the best part of nine months.

He translated Chinese website forums and mobile phone messages and also travelled with a team of detectives to China as part of a fact-finding mission. However, his primary role was to help ease the pain of the victim’s families.

They had never before travelled outside China, so PC Lai organised their flights and visas, and was there to greet them as they stepped off the plane to recover the bodies of their children.

Speaking after the verdict, Miss Zhou’s 57-year-old father, Sanbao, a retired chemical engineering company manager, said: “Dealing with the events after the murder, we think that Andy helped us a lot.

When we came in on our flight to the UK, we did not speak any English and it was very difficult.

“When they took us to our hotel, the first person we saw gave us a letter. The entire letter was translated into Chinese, telling us that if we needed anything they would be glad to help us. It really helped us with our grief and the entire tragedy.”

The manhunt was one of the largest Northumbria had ever undertaken and involved studying thousands of hours of CCTV footage and more than 6,000 mobile phone checks.

Ultimately it was DNA discovered on a pair of blood-spattered trousers found at the murder scene that clinched the case.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Wilkie said the couple had been killed because they had crossed people involved in illegal betting scams. The court heard that despite their modest jobs, more than £200,000 passed through their bank accounts in three years.

Mr Yang was involved in sending information from live football matches to Chinese gamblers who benefited from a television time delay of several seconds, allowing them to bet on events already knowing the outcome.

However, Det Supt Steve Wade, the man in charge of the investigation, said the true motives for the killings may never be known.

“Only three people ever knew – two of them are dead and one has told lies throughout the police investigation,” he said.

He also singled out PC Lai for his “invaluable support” throughout the investigation.

“Not only did he have excellent language skills, speaking both Mandarin and Cantonese, he was also a very experienced and capable police officer,” he said.

“He played a significant part in the investigation, helping us with the victim’s families, the funeral arrangements, media liaison and even the arrest of the killer.

“I’d like to personally thank him for all the work he did in what was a difficult and complex case.”

Hampshire Constabulary’s top policeman, Chief Constable Alex Marshall, last night described the efforts of his officer as “truly exemplary”.

“PC Lai was able to help the investigative team to put the victims’ families at ease when dealing with police officers from another country,” he said.

“This commitment to understanding the needs of people who are affected by crime, no matter what their background or nationality, underpins the work of the police service as a whole.”

PC Lai said he hopes a strengthening of links between police forces in Britain and their counterparts in China can be the one positive result to come out of the tragedy.