Life Sentence For Body In Boot Killer

An alert neighbour's quick thinking has today led to the conviction of a jealous Chinese man for the murder of his girlfriend.

The 28-year-old, Chang Hai Zhang, heard the Belfast Crown Court jury of seven men and five women convict him of murdering 22-year-old, Tina, Mei Na Qu.

The killer, and an accomplice were spotted by a neighbour who observed them bundling Tina's body into the boot of their Ford Escort car in the early hours of June 3 of 2004.

He was jailed after being convicted of murdering his Dublin prostitute girlfriend whose semi-naked body was found in the boot of the car by police officers.

Mr Justice Hart, in jailing him for life, told Zhang, who had admitted killing Tina, but denied her murder, that he had been convicted by a majority of 11 to one by the jury following three hours deliberation over two days.

Zhang, caught along with his 29-year-old cousin Pang Yang, were on their way to dispose of Tina's body, has been convicted of her murder in his Skegoniel Avenue flat in north Belfast.

Zhang and his cousin planned to dispose of Tina's body by dumping it in a remote area and burning the remains.

But the neighbour was suspicious and alerted police who caught them a short time later as they were about to fill a small container of petrol in the forecourt of Dunmore filling stations, almost opposite Antrim Road police station.

Although jailed for life Zhang will be told later how much of the jail term he will serve before being considered for release and the possibility of deportation back to China.

His cousin Yang, whose address was given as Glen Road in west Belfast, and who was jailed for five years for assisting an offender, is already awaiting deportation.

(BMcC)