Man charged with killing family of four

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NORTHAMPTON, England, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A Chinese businessman charged with killing a university lecturer and his wife and children made a brief appearance Thursday in an English court.

Anxiang Du arrived in Britain Wednesday after being extradited from Morocco, the Northampton Chronicle and Echo reported. Police found him living in a partly completed apartment building in a Tangiers suburb.

Du, 54, is charged with killing Jifeng Ding, his wife, Helen Chui, and their daughters, Xing, 18, and Alice, 12. The family was found stabbed in their home May 1, but investigators said they were killed April 29, 2011, the day Prince William married Kate Middleton.

District Judge Tim Daber in a 10-minute hearing in Northampton Magistrate's Court got information on Du's name and address and told him the charges could only be handled in Crown Court. Du, who had owned a Chinese medicine shop in England, spoke through a Mandarin interpreter.

Du is not expected to appear at a hearing Friday in Crown Court since his lawyer is not likely to make a bail application.

Ding was a lecturer in Manchester, while his wife taught part time. The couple had been involved in a business deal with Du and investigators said he believed they owed him money.