Stab-case parents ‘afraid of phone’

Jifeng “Jeff” Ding, his wife Helen and their two daughters Alice, 12, and 18-year-old Xing were found stabbed to death in Wootton, Northampton, on May 1 after being killed on April 29.

Police are hunting prime suspect Anxiang Du, 52. It is thought he may have escaped in the family’s Vauxhall Corsa that was found in St John’s Wood, London.

Mr Ding’s brother Jixiang revealed the trauma suffered by their parents in China. “They are almost afraid of picking up a phone call. You call them, you try to say something nice to make them feel better, but that itself reminds them of my brother and sister-in-law and their grandchildren.

“That just reopens a wound and that is just terrible. I still don’t know how to help them in that regard and that is the most difficult part.”

The biology professor, from Kentucky, also told of his own difficulty in coming to terms with the killings. “I actually found out from the internet. I was completely shocked.”

Du was a former business associate of the couple – their relationship had soured and was the subject of a court case which reached a climax the week of the murders, police said.

Crimestoppers has offered a reward of £10,000 for information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.

Du is described as 5ft 9in, slim, with thinning hair. He regularly wears a baseball cap.