A CHINESE couple may have been murdered for their substantial sums of money made through selling forged qualifications and an internet betting scam, a court heard.

Xi Zhou and boyfriend Zhen Xing Yang, both 25, were found dead in their Newcastle flat in August last year having suffered horrific injuries, a jury heard.

Guang Hui Cao, 30, of Castle Close, Morpeth, denied two counts of murder at Newcastle Crown Court.

Robert Smith, prosecuting, said Miss Zhou, known as Cici and Mr Yang, also called Kevin, had mobile phones and a laptop computer taken from the flat they shared.

But the level of violence used was hard to explain as being “even remotely necessary”

to take those items, he said.

There was evidence, however, that Mr Yang made a living selling false qualifications and helped in a fraudulent internet betting operation.

Mr Smith said: “He had very substantial sums of money passing through his and Cici’s bank accounts.”

The prosecution said Miss Zhou was seen on CCTV leaving work at a city centre noodle bar and catching a bus home to Croydon Road, Fenham, after a lunchtime shift. No more than two hours after leaving work, she was dead.

Mr Smith said: “She met a violent and brutal death inside her own home where the man and any other persons who may have been responsible also killed her boyfriend, Kevin, in quite brutal circumstances. It is possible her boyfriend was already dead when she entered the house at about 4.10pm that day.”

She was bound and gagged and placed face down on a bed, where she suffocated about 90 minutes later.

She was also struck on the head with a hammer, or a similar weapon, fracturing her skull.

Mr Smith said: “The death of Kevin was more brutal still.”

He was placed on another bed in the property and hit on the head and in the face with a similar weapon.

His throat was also cut.

Mr Smith said although Miss Zhou earned £14,000 as a waitress, and Mr Yang had officially earned only £3,000 in the past year, police found £233,690 had passed through their bank accounts.

During the investigation, police also found that Mr Yang had also sent £45,000 to his parents in China.

The defendant initially made contact with the couple when they placed an advert to sub-let their spare room to a Chinese student, Mr Smith said.

The court heard that after Mr Yang and Miss Zhou’s murders, Cao changed his clothes and stole three mobile phones and a laptop which linked him to the couple.

Police also found a pair of trousers, heavily stained with Mr Yang’s blood, which also contained traces of Cao’s DNA.

Mr Yang’s spectacles and watch, also splattered with blood, were found in Cao’s home.

The trial, expected to last four weeks, continues.