Man faces life imprisonment after admitting murder of woman in 1997
A 44-year-old man has admitted murdering a woman in Glasgow more than 20 years ago.
Zhi Min Chen choked Tracey Wylde to death at her flat in Barmulloch in November 1997. The body of the 21-yearold mother-of-one, who had been working as a prostitute, was found the next day.
Chinese-born Chen had been due to stand trial at the High Court in Glasgow. He will return to the court to be sentenced next month.
Judge Lord Arthurson told the fast food shop owner: “You have been convicted of a murder of a 21-year-old young woman in her own home.
“The only sentence that the court can and will pass is that of life imprisonment.”
A large-scale manhunt – initially lasting two-and-a-half years – failed to catch Ms Wylde’s killer. A cold case review in 2013 was also unsuccessful. But Chen was arrested in July last year after being held for an alleged assault in Glasgow’s Cowcaddens area.
His DNA matched samples found at the scene of Ms Wylde’s murder.
Police described Ms Wylde as having a“turbulent background”and said she had been a sex worker in Glasgow at the time of her death. She had been raised by her grandparents before moving into her own flat and giving birth to her daughter in August 1994.
The court heard Ms Wylde had gone into Glasgow city centre on 23 November, 1997, and was last spotted on CCTV in the city’s red-light area at about 3:20am.
Prosecutor Steven Borthwick told the court a neighbour heard arguing in Ms Wylde’s flat at about 4:40am.
Her body was discovered in the house the following day.
Following Chen’s guilty plea, Det Insp Gordon Mackenzie, of Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team, said: “Today marks the end of a 21-year wait for the family of Tracy Wylde, to see the man responsible for her brutal murder finally brought to justice.”