‘Brothel’ killer likely to be local, say detectives

POLICE believe a shadowy killer who vanished after stabbing a man to death in Digbeth lives in the city.

And detectives are now looking at potential links between the death of Jimming Zhang and a separate brothel stabbing months earlier.

The 41-year-old victim was knifed to death at a suspected brothel he was allegedly running at a Digbeth flat on February 9.

Police recovered DNA but no arrests have yet been made.

Community sources claimed Chinese national Mr Zhang was running a brothel and had links to a Chinese crime gang. A similar attack took place months earlier at a city centre flat in Pershore Road, which locals said was also being run as a brothel.

Police told the Post they believe the killer is ‘local to Birmingham’ and would be known in the city. They also confirmed they are looking at links between the two stabbings, but have ruled out the murder was the work of a professional hitman.

Detective Inspector Jim Mahon said: “Our investigation into Mr Zhang’s murder continues and we thank the public for their response to our last appeal which gave us a number of new lines of enquiry and resulted in the elimination of several people from being a suspect in this case. We have investigated the murder alongside a violent attack which took place in October 2021 at an address near to the Pershore Road. So far, we have noted a number of similarities but cannot conclude that the offences are linked categorically, but we continue to investigate both offences alongside each other.

“We have considered the theory that this is linked to organised crime, however we still believe the most likely motive is robbery. We have no intelligence that suggests the perpetrator was an organised hitman.

“Whilst we do not know for certain, we believe he is local to Birmingham, so would be known in the local area. Importantly, we have DNA we believe belongs to the suspect which is not on the DNA database, therefore we can eliminate anyone quickly from being a suspect.

“Crimestoppers continue to offer a £20,000 cash reward for any information.”

Like Mr Zhang, the victim of the Pershore Road stabbing on October 23 was stabbed multiple times, according to community sources but survived. He was also a Chinese national like Mr Zhang.

The October attacker is also described as black, like the prime suspect in Mr Zhang’s murder. Locals claimed the Edgbaston flat was being used as a brothel for the past year and a half.

Mr Zhang was said to be linked to a Chinese crime gang which runs brothels in Birmingham and in other parts of the UK. Chinese gangs operate in a number of UK cities but their operations are little known outside the Chinese community.