chinese businessman anxiang du 'slaughtered family with kitchen knife in revenge attack' _ mail...

8/14/2019 Chinese businessman Anxiang Du 'slaughtered family with kitchen knife in revenge attack' _ Mail Online.pdf

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Chinese businessman 'slaughtered couple andtheir daughters, 18, and 12, with kitchen knife

in ruthlessly efficient revenge attack sparked

by legal dispute'

Anxiang Du 'kil led J ifeng Ding, Ge Chui and their children Xing and Al ice'

Du 'armed himself with a kitchen knife and stabbed family to death in 2011'

He 'found couple's daughters cowering in bedroom before stabbing them'By Mark Duell

PUBLISHED: 12:21 GMT, 12 November 2013 | UPDATED: 19:34 GMT, 12 November 2013

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On tr ial: Anxiang Du, 54, murdered a family of four with 'rut hless efficiency', a cour theard

A Chinese businessman murdered a family of four with ruthless efficiency in order to avenge himself after


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a business relationship turned sour, a court heard today.

Anxiang Du, 54, is accused of killing Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer Jifeng Jeff Ding, his wife,Ge Helen Chui, and their two daughters, Xing Nancy 18, and Alice, 12.

Du armed himself with a kitchen knife and stabbed the family to death in their own home on April 29 2011,the day of the royal wedding, the jury at Northampton Crown Court was told.

William Harbage QC said: The prosecution case is that this defendant, Anxiang Du, on the day of the royal

wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton, on April 29, 2011, travelled to Northampton from hishome in Coventry, via Birmingham, armed with a kitchen knife, and savagely stabbed to death firstly the twopeople, Mr and Mrs Ding, with whom he had been having a long-running legal dispute.

Not content with killing them, the mother and father, in the kitchen of their own home, he then went upstairsto f ind their two daughters, Nancy aged 18 and Alice aged 12, cowering in a bedroom. He cold-bloodedlystabbed them to death as well.

Mr Harbage told the court, which contained members of Mrs Dings family who had travelled from China tobe present for the trial, that each member of the family had sustained many wounds, some of which hadpenetrated the chest cavity causing fatal damage to the heart and lungs.

Deaths: Du, 55, is accused of killing Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer Jifeng

'Jeff' Ding (left), his wife, Ge 'Helen' Chui (centre), and their two daughters, Xing 'Nancy'18 (right) , and Alice, 12 (left)

Mr Harbage said Du had carried out the killings in order to get revenge after a decade-long legal disputewith the Dings that left him with a large sum to pay in court costs.

Why did he do it? Mr Harbage asked jurors. The answer is quite simply revenge. The defendant Du andhis wife and Mr and Mrs Ding used to be in business together.

The business relationship turned sour. There followed a long running dispute lasting for 10 years involvingprotracted and acrimonious litigation in the civil courts for seven of those 10 years.

Although Du won the first battle he lost the last and was left with a large sum of money to pay in costs,


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some 88,000. On April 28, 2011, the day before the killings, he was served with an injunction to preventhim from dissipating his assets.

It was obvious to him that he had lost, he faced ruin, there was no other legitimate course of action for himto take to fight his case. And so he resorted to violence, to murder, in order to avenge himself of the peoplewho had caused him such grief.

Couple: Mr Ding (left) was a lecturer in polymer science at Manchester Metropolitan

Universit y while his w ife (right) was a businesswoman and t ranslator


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He did so not just by killing them, Mr and Mrs Ding, but also by murdering their wholly innocent daughterswith whom he had no grievance whatsoever. Du made a plan and carried it out with ruthless efficiency.

Mr Harbage told the court that Du, having massacred the Ding family, stole their car and went in search ofanother man, Paul Delaney, who had become involved in the civil litigation and lived elsewhere inNorthamptonshire.

Fortunately for Mr Delaney, Du did not f ind him, Mr Harbage told the court.

Du then fled - he drove to London where he took a coach to Paris, then travelled down through France andSpain to Algeciras on the Mediterranean coast where he took a boat to Morocco.

It was from there that he was brought back to the UK earlier this year, the court heard. Mr Harbage toldjurors there was no argument that Du was responsible for the killings but he would claim he had not intendedthem to happen.

There is no dispute in this case that Du is the man responsible for these four tragic deaths, Mr Harbagesaid. There is no dispute that he unlawfully killed all four members of the Ding family.


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Sisters: Xing 'Nancy' (left), 18, and Alice (right), 12, were both killed in the attack in April

2011, the cour t heard

Indeed, it was obvious from an early stage in the investigation that it was Du who did it, obvious fromCCTV evidence of his movements and from forensic evidence, including his fingerprints found in blood atthe scene. That much is admitted.

However, it is anticipated that Du may now claim that he should not be convicted of murder but should onlybe convicted of manslaughter on the basis of either diminished responsibility or loss of control.

These are two separate partial defences which, if they apply, reduce what would otherwise be murder tomanslaughter. They are quite technical and will be explained to you fully by the judge should they arise.

Suffice to say, the prosecution does not accept that this is anything other than the clearest case of murder,with the obvious motive of revenge, and any claim otherwise by Du is simply a blatant and transparentattempt to avoid his full responsibility for these grotesque killings.

Mr Harbage told the court that the Dings were hard-working, decent people of Chinese origin. The juryheard that Mr Ding was a lecturer in polymer science at Manchester Metropolitan University while his wifewas a businesswoman and translator.


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The court heard each member of the family had sustained many wounds, some of which

had penetrated the chest cavity causing fatal damage to the heart and lungs


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Hearing: Du is pictured (left) today at Nott ingham Crown Court during his t rial over four

counts of murder

Mr Harbage told the jury that the couple moved to the UK about 20 years ago and their two daughters wereborn here. The court also heard a little about Du's background.

Mr Harbage told the jury that Du, who speaks litle English, was born in China and came to the UK in 1998shortly after his wife, Can Chen. The couple, who have a son called Boquian, are both doctors of traditionalChinese medicine.

'Why did he do it? The answer is quite simply revenge'

William Harbage QC, prosecuting

The court heard that Mrs Ding met Du's wife and the two couples became friends and decided to go intobusiness together in 1999. Mr Harbage told the jury that the business was successful and shops wereopened in Gloucester and Cheltenham.

But in 2001, he said, there was an incident involving Du, Mrs Ding and a friend of hers, Mr Delaney. Policewere called and Du was arrested but no charges were brought.

In April of that year, Du and his wife were dismissed from the business, the court heard. In 2004, Du startedlegal proceedings against the Dings over the joint ownership of the business and so began a long-runningdispute.

The court heard that Du won the first legal battle but lost the last and was left with a large costs bill of88,000. On the evening of April 28, Du was served at his home address with an injunction preventing himfrom disposing of his assets.

Scene: Du travelled in April 2011 to the family's house in Northampton (pictured) from his

home in Coventry, via Birmingham, armed with a kitchen knife, the court heard

Mr Harbage said the injunction was the final straw for Du, who also found that he had no further avenuesof appeal in the civil litigation, had had all his assets frozen, and faced financial ruin. He said the injunctionwas the catalyst for the horrific events which were to unfold the following day.


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On the day of the killings, Du opened his shop in the Pavilions Shopping Centre in Birmingham, the courtheard. He was only there for about 10 minutes and left a note before leaving.

Mr Harbage said the note was intended for his wife and translated from Mandarin meant best wishes oreternal blessing and said Qian Qian (the pet name for their son) will care about Mum forever! Everyonehas to say farewell one day!

'He resorted to violence, to murder, in order to avenge himself of the people who had

caused him such grief'William Harbage QC, prosecuting

Mr Harbage said: We say that is exactly as it says - a farewell note. Du then caught a train fromBirmingham to Northampton before taking a bus to the Dings' home in Wootton.

Mr Harbage said the time of the killings could be timed accurately because a 999 call was made fromAlice's mobile phone at 3.32pm on April 29.

The call was sent via BT, whose operator could hear the sound of female screams, more than onescream, Mr Harbage said. There was no conversation between the caller and the operator.

Mr Harbage told jurors the 999 call would be played to them during the course of the trial and warned: It isquite distressing.

Jurors heard that Du killed Mr and Mrs Ding downstairs first before making his way upstairs, leaving a trailof bloody f ingerprints, and attacking the girls.

Before making good his escape after the brutal attacks, Du washed the blood from his hands and from theknife, the court heard.

Mr Harbage said the bodies of Mr and Mrs Ding were found downstairs in the kitchen, and Alice and Nancywere found dead in an upstairs bedroom - Alice on the bed and her sister on the floor.

Home: Du killed the parents at their Nor thampton house before going upstairs to find

their two daughters, Nancy and Alice, cowering in a bedroom, the court heard. He

allegedly stabbed them to death as well


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Post-mortem examinations found that Mr Ding had been stabbed 23 times, Mrs Ding 13 times, Nancy had11 stab wounds, and Alice had four.

Some of those were defence wounds, Mr Harbage said. Jurors heard that the house was extensivelybloodstained and a knife, believed to be the murder weapon, was later recovered by police in the kitchen.

Concluding his opening, Mr Harbage said Du was a man on a mission. The prosecutor said: We inviteyou to conclude that this was a premeditated plan formed overnight after the service of the injunction.

This was a considered act of revenge we say executed in an unbelievably calm and cold-blooded manner.He planned to kill; he intended to kill; he did kill - four times. We say this is murder, nothing less.

Mr Harbage told the jury Du was diagnosed with depression in February 2011 and that he was prescribedpills.

But the prosecutor added: It would not be surprising if Du did have some form of depression given whathad happened to him in the civil litigation.

Even if he did have some form of depression it does not mean that he can avail himself of the defence ofdiminished responsibility. Depression does not explain what the defendant did.

Mr Harbage told jurors Du was angry and made a decision to exact his revenge on the Dings. He said:

Any depression he may have had is irrelevant to that anger and desire for vengeance.

His anger and desire for revenge was such that he killed not just the two people against whom he had agrievance but he decided to kill their children as well to fully avenge himself of the wrong which he perceivedthey had done to him.

This is not loss of control or diminished responsibility; this is not manslaughter. This is revenge; this ismurder.

Du denies four counts of murder. The trial continues.

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