Illegal Emigrant Gets Life For Murder

The two mutilated bodies of Xi Zhou (age 25) and her boyfriend Zhex Xing Yang (age 25) were found dead in their flat on Croydon Road. The murder took place back on August 9, 2008. Guang Hui Cao (age 31) from Castle Close, Morpeth, Northumberland, had denied having anything to do with the killings.

However, after a trial, Justice Wilkie said that the murder was horrifying and it involved unimaginable suffering. Cao was then ordered to life in jail and made to serve a minimum term of 33 years.

During the three week trial, the jury listened to how the couple had been involved in a very lucrative internet betting scam. They also heard that Miss Zhou died after being hit with a very heavy weapon and was found gagged and bound face down on the bed. Her boydfriend, Mr Yang, died after being hit many times with a hammer-like weapon and then having his throat slit.

The police said that Cao arrived to the UK back in 2001 on a student visa. However, after the visa ran out, Cao chose to outstay his welcome and remain in the country illegally. Before murdering the couple, he pretended to want to sub let a room in the flat. This is how he made contact with them.

After Cao finished with the murder he changed his clothes and left the property with many stolen goods like laptops, mobile phones, and so on, which were used to link him to the murder. The phones had been dumped in a nearby park by two boys with both the sim cards and the batteries missing.

Cao had claimed in his defense that the two were blackmailing him to unwittingly helping them set up their deaths. He said he did it, because they had threaten his family back in China. However, his story did not help him escape life in jail.