IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here. The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.
Hong Kong PolyU teacher who vanished in Shenzhen was murdered night he disappeared, police say
Hilary St John Bower was last seen alive at the Lo Wu border crossing
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 12 April, 2016, 11:33pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 12 April, 2016, 11:33pm
Clifford Lo Niall Fraser
A Hong Kong teacher who “vanished” in Shenzhen three weeks ago – sparking an anxious 22-day hunt by family, friends and colleagues – was murdered the same night he disappeared, it was revealed on Tuesday night.
A Hong Kong police spokesman confirmed that mainland authorities had issued a “notification” that 60-year-old Hilary St John Bower was killed on the mainland on the night of March 22, the date he was last seen alive at the Lo Wu border crossing.
It is understood arrests have been made on the mainland but there are no details on how Bower died or when the Hong Kong police were told of his killing.
On Tuesday night, Bower’s friend and colleague at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Richard Charles, criticised police on both sides of the border for their “shoddy and shambolic” handling of the disappearance and their treatment of relatives and friends.
The dead man’s younger brother, Robin, was on a flight bound for Hong Kong from London on Tuesday night. It could not be confirmed if he was aware his brother was dead.
“I find it unbelievable that Hilary’s friends and colleagues have had to find out from the media about this. We are in shock and are extremely upset,” said Charles.
Last week fears emerged that his disappearance could have been tied to a HK$9 million windfall he was expecting for the sale of a mainland property.
The disappearance sparked a global law enforcement alert after his brother contacted police in Britain who in turn were understood to have gone through the international police organisation Interpol in a bid to get information from the mainland’s Public Security Bureau.
Last week Charles told the Post: “Anyone who knows Hilary knows he is a pretty disorganised guy, but he was on his way to see his son. There was no reason for him to disappear.
“I do know that after buying at the bottom of the property market a good few years ago, he was expecting to be paid somewhere in the region of HK$9 million for a property he just sold in Shekou,” he added.
Charles said concern had arisen in light of the “complicated” deal and the possibility his disappearance might be connected.
He added he and members of Bower’s family were unhappy with the lack of action by police on both sides of the border. The younger brother had contacted police in Britain, he said.
A spokesman for Britain’s Foreign Office in London, who last week confirmed they were engaged in the matter, was unavailable for comment.
The case had been classified by police as that of a “missing person” and was being investigated by the Regional Missing Persons Unit of Kowloon West.
Re: Hong Kong PolyU teacher who vanished in Shenzhen was murdered night he disappeare
‘Complicated’ relationships with multiple lovers could have led to Hong Kong PolyU instructor’s death and dismemberment
Police arrest woman and two men for murder of Hilary Bower, 60, who was reportedly in Nanshan visiting one of several girlfriends when he was killed
PUBLISHED : Friday, 15 April, 2016, 1:24pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 16 April, 2016, 1:38am
Clifford Lo Niall Fraser Raymond Yeung
Hong Kong murder victim Hilary Bower was dismembered by his killers during a frenzied attack in the Shenzhen flat of a girlfriend police say formed part of a “complicated” love life.
The gruesome killing of the 60-year-old Hong Kong Polytechnic University teacher – confirmed by sources with a knowledge of the investigation – and the removal from Shenzhen of the body parts hampered the police investigation, according to a separate source .
A formal identification of the body has not yet been completed, that source said.
Bower, a permanent resident of Hong Kong and British national, disappeared on March 22 after he crossed into the mainland through the Lo Wu checkpoint on his way home to another mainland girlfriend, Shi Xiumei, and his eight-year-old son, *Matthew.
According to Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, the murder took place the same night in a flat in the Nanshan district of the city owned by another 38-year-old woman, surnamed Xu, with whom Bower was having a relationship.
The woman is one of three people who have been arrested over the murder. The other two are men surnamed Sun and Liu, aged 28 and 23 .
A source told the South China Morning Post : “We were told that the body had been dismembered and had not been recovered.”
It is understood that Bower lived with Shi, who is in her 30s, in Shenzhen. The language instructor also owned a property in *Shekou, the recent sale of which was expected to net him a HK$9 million windfall.
A notice posted on the official Weibo account of Shenzhen Public Security Bureau’s Nanshan branch yesterday read:
[A screen grab of the notice from the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau’s Nanshan branch.]
“Due to a dispute over their relationship, a 38-year-old woman surnamed Xu was unhappy with Hilary St John Bower and conspired with suspects (a man surnamed Sun, 28, and a man surnamed Liu, 23) to kill Bower in her apartment in the Nanshan district of Shenzhen on March 22.”
It added that the suspects, all from Hubei (湖北) province, were arrested on April 8, more than two weeks after the murder.
Bower had been due to retire from the university this year. Yesterday, his younger brother Robin – who flew to Hong Kong from London earlier this week – went to Shenzhen to meet with public security bureau officers investigating his brother’s murder.
British consular officials are understood to have accompanied Bower in Shenzhen.
