Heartache Of Murdered Family's Relatives

Relatives of a family-of-four brutally murdered in their own home have spoken of the "terrible" impact of the deaths - and said they are confident the killer will be caught.

Jifeng "Jeff" Ding, his wife Helen and their two daughters Alice, 12, and 18-year-old Xing were found stabbed in Wootton, Northampton, on Sunday, May 1.

Police are still hunting prime suspect Anxiang Du, 52, in connection with the murders, which happened two days before the bodies were discovered.

Mr Ding's brother Jixiang revealed the trauma suffered by their parents in China.

"They are almost afraid of picking up a phone call," he said.

"You call them, you try to say something nice to make them feel better, but that itself reminds them of my brother and sister-in-law and their grandchildren.

"That just reopens a wound and that is just terrible. I still don't know how to help them in that regard and that is the most difficult part."

The biology professor, from Kentucky in the US, also told of his own difficulty in coming to terms with the killings.

"I actually found out from the internet. I was completely shocked, I could not finish the news story once I saw the pictures."

He said he had confidence in the police and believed the person responsible would be punished "sooner or later".

Du was a previous business associate of the couple but their relationship had soured and was the subject of a court case which reached a climax the week of the murders, police said.

It is thought he may have travelled to London in a Vauxhall Corsa that went missing from the family's home and was later found in a side street in St John's Wood in the capital.

Jixiang Ding said he had "many questions" to ask Du about what happened on April 29.

He said: "I want to ask him how could you stab a knife into an innocent girl's heart, not once but twice. How could you do that [to] an innocent girl?"

Mrs Ding's sister-in-law Li Zhu, who lives in China, appealed for help in finding the person responsible for the deaths.

"He has destroyed a happy family and what is more he has destroyed the peace and tranquility of the rest of our family," she said.

"The sadness will stay with us forever."

Crimestoppers has offered a reward of £10,000 for information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.

Du is described as 5ft 9in, slim, with thinning hair and he regularly wears a baseball cap.