A Chinese serial killer dubbed the country’s ‘Jack the Ripper’ has been executed for the murder of 11 girls and women.
Gao Chengyong was found guilty of multiple counts of murder, rape, robbery and the mutilation of corpses between 1988 and 2002. Many of his victims had their hands, ears and genitals cut off.
He struck in northwest China’s Baiyin city in Gansu Province and Baotou city in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, and the married father-of-two’s youngest victim was just eight years old.
The South China Morning Press cites a court official as stating: “To satisfy his perverted desire to dishonour and sully corpses, many of his female victims’ corpses were damaged and violated.”
The 54-year-old was sentenced to death in March last year for the murders, which occurred over the course of 14 years.
Gao was arrested in August 2016 at his own grocery store following a DNA test stemming from an unrelated crime committed by one of his relatives.
It has not been confirmed how the execution was carried out, though lethal injection and firing squad are the most common methods used in the country.
Beijing considers the number of people executed in China each year to be state secret. International human rights organisations estimate the figure at around 2,000.