Cash pledge for murder pair families

Aug 17 2008 by Robert Weatherall, Sunday Sun

CARING community leaders have revealed plans to raise money to help the families of two murdered students.

The small Chinese community in Newcastle was shocked last week when students Zhen Xing Yang and his girlfriend Xi Zhou were discovered battered to death inside their home in the Fenham area of the city.

As revealed in last week’s Sunday Sun, the bodies were found last Saturday afternoon, after a worried friend called at the flat.

Mr Yang, 25, who was wearing nightclothes, was discovered in one of the bedrooms with horrific head injuries.

Miss Zhou, also 25, was found in another bedroom. She had also suffered head injuries and had been suffocated.

Police have said they believe the couple may have been targeted after running an internet betting scam, which left angry customers owed a lot of money.

Despite suspicions the couple had been conning people out of cash, community leader Barry Yu told how he hopes local businesses and residents will club together to pay the cost of repatriating the pair’s bodies.

Barry, a business leader and spokesman for the 14 Chinese associations, said: “I have been speaking to the elders in the community and we are looking at a collection.

“Even if they have done wrong, we need to get the bodies back for the sake of the parents. It will more than likely be their only child, so it will be especially hard for the families. No matter what happens, it must be very hard for people to lose their loved ones so far from home.”

It is believed there are around 10,000 Chinese students studying at Newcastle and Northumbria Universities along with students also at Newcastle College.

The cost of sending a student from China to study in the UK is around £20,000.

Although many Chinese families save for years to ensure a good education for their child, others borrow money, meaning that students can feel under great pressure to study hard and find ways of helping to repay the debt.

Barry added: “It can take a family more than 10 years to save that money.

“Others will borrow money so they can send their sons or daughters to universities. Most Chinese parents have just one child and everything is channeled into him or her for the future of the family.”

Since the couple were discovered eight days ago, police have uncovered evidence they were involved with betting scams and fake documents.

Complaints about the couple and apparent threats against them have since been found on website chat-rooms.