Life for man who killed family

After Anxiang Du was jailed for at least 40 years, relatives of the Ding family made the following statement:

Sentencing Anxiang Du, who stood in the dock staring down at his hands, Mr Justice Flaux told him the jury had rejected his defence of diminished responsibility or loss of control.

Barristers for Du had argued he should be convicted of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility or loss of control as he was suffering a severe depressive illness at the time of the killings but jurors dismissed the claims.

Anxiang Du was today jailed at Northampton Crown Court for life with minimum of 40 years after being convicted of murdering four members of the Ding family at their home in Wootton, Northamptonshire, in April 2011.

Relatives of a family of four who were stabbed to death have said it was "like the whole sky had fallen down" when they were told about the murders.

The Ding family, including two girls aged 18 and 12, were murdered by Anxiang Du.

Watch Mrs Ding's father Zuyao Cui speak about his heartache:

Relatives of the four family members stabbed to death said it was "like the whole sky had fallen down" when they were told about the murders.

Jifeng "Jeff" Ding, his wife Ge "Helen" Chui and daughters Xing "Nancy", 18, and Alice, 12, were murdered by businessman Anxiang Du in April 2011.

Speaking after the verdict, Mrs Ding's father Zuyao Cui said: "Anxiang Du killed a whole family and it affected the older people especially. They have found it very difficult to accept. The evidence we heard in court was just like a knife to the body."

"When the two families heard about this it was like the whole sky has fallen down on them. We all cried together," Mr Cui added.

Mr Cui said Du had not shown any remorse during the trial and added that the murders were pre-meditated, saying: "The fact he let himself in the back door, showed that it was pre-planned."

A killer who massacred four family members was able to flee the country and evade capture for 14 months after police mishandled a 999 call from one of his victims.

The bodies of Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer Jifeng "Jeff"' Ding, his wife, Ge "Helen" Chui, and their two daughters, Xing "Nancy", 18, and Alice, 12, lay undiscovered for two days in a Northampton house, despite a frantic 999 call from the youngest family member.

Alice made the call at 3.32pm on April 29 2011 as Anxiang Du carried out the killings and both girls could be heard screaming before the line went dead.

Northamptonshire Police "badly mishandled" the call with officers being sent to the wrong address and the emergency call closed when nothing untoward was found at that location.

The force admitted they will "never know what may have happened" if they had responded correctly to the call" but said it was "unlikely" the Ding family could have been saved.

An investigation by the police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said had the force responded correctly, officers would have been at the scene "within minutes."

Anxiang Du has been found guilty of murdering Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer Jifeng "Jeff"' Ding, his wife, Ge "Helen" Chui, and their two daughters, Xing "Nancy" 18, and Alice, 12, on April 29, 2011.

Jurors rejected the claim that Du, from Coventry, should be convicted of manslaughter on the basis of either diminished responsibility or loss of control.