Police renew appeal for key witnesses

Sep 6 2008 by Paul James, The Journal

MAJOR lines of inquiry into the murders of two Chinese graduates in Newcastle remain unresolved, police said yesterday.

Four weeks after the discovery of the bodies of Xi Zhou and Zhen Xing Yang in their West End flat, detectives repeated appeals for help tracing some key individuals.

It is believed the couple were killed on Thursday, August 7, two days before their bodies were discovered, and officers asked questions of 50 people in the area on Thursday this week to try and jog their memories.

Yesterday, Det Supt Steve Wade said police were still seeking information about a lodger at 8 Croydon Road and about three people seen outside the address one hour after the last sighting of Wagamama waitress Miss Zhou, known as Ci Ci.

A female witness who was walking home at 5pm past Croydon Road on August 7 saw three people standing at the front gate.

Two of them had their backs to her. She could not see what they looked like or whether they were men or women.

However, they were a similar height to the third individual, who is described as a man of Chinese appearance in his late 20s or early 30s, 5ft 4ins tall with short dark hair and of plump build. He was wearing silver rimmed glasses, light blue jeans and a short sleeved white and light blue football-style top, possibly with a logo on the front in the centre.

One theory behind the killings is that the couple were victims of a Chinese gang who target foreign students in the UK they perceive to be wealthy, who are advertising rooms to rent.

And the mystery lodger is still unaccounted for.

Det Supt Wade said: “We believe that an unidentified man rented a room from the couple on or about August 1 this year.

“On August 3 or 4, Zhen Xing Yang routinely contacted his mother in China via telephone and informed her that he had taken on a new lodger.

“He informed his mother that the new lodger was a student and that he came from the Jinzhou area of Dalian City.

“We have no further information to identify the lodger and inquiries to trace him have so far failed.

“We urgently need to identify this unknown lodger who could have vital information to assist the murder investigation and to eliminate him from our inquiries.”

On Thursday, police will make a nationwide appeal for help, having set up a number of channels already for the Chinese community to get in touch.

Anyone with information about the murders or the two victims can contact Northumbria Police, on 0845 604-3043 or 0345 604-3043, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Northumbria Police has an email address where people can leave messages in their chosen language, at northumbriapolice@ymail.com, and has also set up a voice message service in Mandarin and Cantonese, where people can leave a message in their chosen language, on (0191) 221-8200.