A British banker, Rurik Jutting, has been charged for the murders of two women found dead in his apartment in Hong Kong. Jutting called the police on Saturday morning who arrived to find Jesse Lorena Ruri, believed to be a prostitute from Indonesia, lying on the living room floor with her throat slashed. Some hours later they discovered the body of another woman, Sumarti Ningsih, stuffed into a suitcase on Jutting's balcony–it's thought to have been there for around 5 days.
Jutting, originally from Surrey, had moved to Hong Kong to work for American bank, Merrill Lynch–the bank would only say that "he left recently". People around him described his life as hedonistic, one said he seemed "preoccupied with power and money".
In the days leading to the discovery of the two women's bodies, Jutting left a series of strange messages. His out-of-office automatic reply read ‘I am out of the office. Indefinitely. For urgent enquiries, or indeed any enquiries, please contact someone who is not an insane psychopath. For escalation please contact God, though suspect the devil will have custody [Last line only really worked if I had followed through].’ suggesting he had planned to kill himself. The day before he allegedly murdered Jesse Lorena Ruri he changed his facebook cover photo to a picture saying 'Money DOES buy happiness' and his profile picture to a screenshoot from a Guardian Comment is Free article called 'Is 29 the perfect age?'
The murders were quickly compared to the 'American Psycho' film and book, written by Bret Easton Ellis, which included a scene where investment banker and serial killer Patrick Bateman beats up two prostitutes before murdering one.
Jutting appeared in court this morning, saying only "I do" when asked if he understood the charges against him. His next appearance will take place in a weeks time.
