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
RAYMOND YEUNG AND CLIFFORD LO
UPDATED : Friday, 15 April, 2016, 3:29pm
Hilary Bower (right) was allegedly killed in apartment in the Nanshan district of Shenzhen. Photos: SCMP Pictures
A “complicated” love life could have led to the murder and dismemberment of a Polytechnic University language instructor in Shenzhen, according to sources with knowledge of the case.
Hilary Bower, 60, who was last seen crossing the Lo Wu border checkpoint on the afternoon of March 22 on his way to Shenzhen, was due to return home to see his girlfriend Shi Xiumei and his six-year-old son.
A source told the South China Morning Post that Bower was dismembered after being killed in Shenzhen.
“We were told previously that the [dismembered] body had not been recovered completely,” the source said.
Another source said initial investigations indicated the murder could be related to the victim’s love life, which was described as “complicated”. It is understood that he lived with Shi, who is in her 30s, in Shenzhen, but had another two lovers on the mainland.
On Friday morning, a notice was posted on the official Weibo account of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau’s Nanshan branch.
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 said.
It added that the three suspects, who were from Hubei province, were nabbed on April 8, and the investigation was ongoing.
The notice said the woman and Bower had lived together for 17 years.
Apple Daily reported that Bower was last heard from just after 9pm on March 22, when he called Shi to say he would be home shortly.
Quoting sources, the local Chinese paper said Bower had instead visited another girlfriend in Nanshan district, where he had rented a 495-square-foot unit since last October. He was allegedly murdered by the woman and two male accomplices at the site.
The report said the trio allegedly fled after dismembering the body, before the woman turned herself in to police in Dongguan city in April and revealed the details.
Mainland police are also investigating whether the murder could be linked to a HK$9 million windfall Bower was expecting from the sale of a mainland property. British paper The Independent reported he had yet to receive the money.
Bower, a Hong Kong permanent resident who began teaching at PolyU in 1996, was reported missing by Shi and a friend in Hong Kong on March 31, more than a week after he was allegedly murdered across the border.
After declining to confirm that the academic had been killed, the British government slightly shifted its stance on Wednesday.
“We are providing support to the family at this difficult time, and will remain in close contact with local authorities,” said a spokesman for Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
A Hong Kong police spokesman confirmed on Tuesday that mainland authorities had issued a “notification” that Bower was killed on the mainland on the night of March 22.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1936130/complicated-relationships-multiple-lovers-could-have-led
