Belfast Strangler Sentenced

A Chinese man convicted of strangling the woman he described as his girlfriend was today told he will serve a minimum of 17 years for the brutal killing.

The body of 22-year old Qu Mei Na - who was known as Tina - was discovered in the boot of a car on a garage forecourt on Belfast's Antrim road in the early hours of June 3, 2004.

Chang Hai Zhang, 28, was arrested at the scene and admitted killing the woman the previous evening in the bedroom of the house on Skegoneill Avenue which he shared with his cousin.

He told police he killed Qu Mei Na after he found out she had been working as a prostitute in Dublin and was planning to find a remote spot where he could burn her body.

Welcoming the sentence, the senior police officer who headed the investigation said: "Our streets are safer now that he is behind bars." Detective Superintentant Tim Hanley also branded Zhang "an exceptionally violent individual."

Zhang - who was living in Belfast as an illegal immigrant - pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of provocation but the Crown said the plea did not meet the needs of justice and proceeded with the murder charge.

He stood trial at Belfast Crown Court earlier this year where a jury found him guilty of murdering Qu Mei Na.

During the trial, the jury heard how the victim has travelled from Dublin to Belfast on May 31, 2004.

She spent several days with Zhang and his cousin Pan Yang but in the early hours of June 2, she was tied up by the two men after Zhang found a list of men's names in her handbag and concluded she was working as a prostitute.

Saying there was a "strong suspicion" Zhang knew she was working as a prostitute, Mr Justice Hart said in the hours prior to her death, the "vulnerable" woman was "subjected to a lengthy period of fear."

The Judge said she was "treated in a humiliating and degrading fashion" whilst bound and was lying face down on the bed when she was strangled with a ligature made from a piece of cord used to tie her up the night before.

Pointing out the difference in height and weight between the killer and his victim, Mr Justice Hart said: "She was completely unable to defend herself and was totally at his mercy at the time she died."

Saying Zhang "has shown no real remorse for what he did", the Judge also revealed the defendant has a previous conviction for attempted rape in China.

Mr Justice Hart also said it was not necessary to make recommendations for Zhang's deportation once he has served his sentence as "this will be so far in the future that any such recommendations would be of little value to the authorities."

His cousin Pan Yang is already serving a prison sentence after admitting charges of false imprisonment and assisting an offender.

(BMcC)