Serial strangler kills 4 Hong Kong prostitutes in 3 days

Mar 17, 2008, 16:00 GMT

Hong Kong - A city-wide manhunt was under way in Hong Kong Monday for a serial strangler suspected to have killed four prostitutes in Hong Kong in the space of just three days.

Police have stepped up patrols in the city's red light district as a third and fourth victim of the killer were found in locations 20 miles apart across the city.

The body of the third victim, a prostitute aged 35, was found Monday morning in the flat in the city's Tai Po district where she entertained clients, a police spokesman said.

Hours later, on Monday afternoon, a 27-year-old woman was found dead in a flat in the city's North Point district with apparent strangulation injuries.

The discoveries came a day after a 30-year prostitute died in hospital hours after being discovered unconscious in the flat where she worked, also in Tai Po.

On Saturday, another 35-year-old prostitute was found strangled with a shower hose in the bathroom of her home in the city's nearby Yuen Long district.

All three women are believed to have been strangled and in each case the flats of the women were ransacked and money and possessions taken by the killer.

One of the police officers in charge of the hunt, Superintendent Steve Lee, said there were similarities and common traits in all the killings and one killer might be responsible.

Later, city police chief Tang King-shing announced: 'We take a very, very serious view of these series of crimes and we have contacted the sex workers' organisations.'

He urged sex workers to be vigilant and to look out for each other and said police patrols had been stepped up in red light areas.

The first two victims both advertised their services on popular Hong Kong sex websites. Police are investigating whether the killer targeted them by scouring the websites.

The murders have sparked alarm among the city's community of prostitutes, many of whom come to Hong Kong from neighbouring mainland China.

The Hong Kong murders are strikingly similar to the 2006 British case of the 'Suffolk Strangler' when the bodies of five prostitutes were found in the space of 10 days.

Forklift truck driver Steve Wright, 49, was found guilty of the murders and was jailed for life last month. The judge recommended that he never be set free.