Chinese appeal over double murder

The couple recently visited Alnwick Castle in Northumberland

Detectives investigating the murder of a couple in Newcastle are to appeal through the Chinese media for help in finding their killers.

Zhen Xing Yang and girlfriend Xi Zhou, both 25, were found dead at the flat they shared on 9 August.

Mr Yang had been tortured before being stabbed to death.

Det Supt Steve Wade, who is leading the murder hunt, is to stage a press conference with Mandarin and Cantonese translators in London on Friday.

Mr Wade, of Northumbria Police, hopes the appeal will prompt members of the UK's Chinese community to come forward with information.

'Bloody clothing'

He said: "The interest in this case within the Chinese community has already been high but I want to be able to speak directly to them, to reassure them that we are committed to finding the killer or killers.

"I also want to appeal to them to come forward to us with any information they may have about the victims or their deaths."

Police now believe the killers would have left by the front door of the Croydon Road flat, in the city's West End, some time between the afternoon of 7 August and when the bodies were discovered by friends two days later.

Mr Wade said: "The back gate was secured and the walls around the yard are impassable.

"When they left they would have been wearing bloody clothing or carrying a bag with the clothing and weapons in."

Earlier this week officers revealed they are trying to trace a lodger who they say rented a room from the pair a week before they died.