Student ‘webcam murder’ man held

A 29-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a Toronto woman whose frantic boyfriend in China watched though a webcam as she struggled with an attacker.

Brian Dickson was remanded into custody after the brief hearing yesterday and will next appear in court on April 26, charged with first-degree murder.

The body of university student Liu Qian, 23, from Beijing, was found in her flat last Friday a few hours after her boyfriend witnessed the attack, police said.

There were no obvious signs of trauma severe enough to kill her.

The post mortem examination results were inconclusive, and police said on Tuesday they were awaiting results from toxicology tests.

Dickson was not a student at York, said university spokeswoman Janice Wells.

Police said Ms Liu was chatting with her boyfriend, Meng Xianchao, by webcam at about 1am on Friday when a man knocked on the door.

Mr Meng reported seeing a struggle between the two before Ms Liu’s webcam was shut off. Mr Meng contacted other friends in Toronto who in turn called police.

The victim’s father, Liu Jianhui, said his daughter studied at Beijing City University before moving to Canada, where she met Mr Meng.

Liu Jianhui has flown to Canada from China. He is the research director of Communist Party history at the Party School of the Central Committee of CPC, which trains party officials.

Liu Qian’s laptop computer, webcam and mobile phone were taken from the flat the night of the attack, police said.

The online chat was on a live streaming camera and was not recorded, though investigators are attempting to recover any traces of it on Mr Meng’s computer.

A student organisation at Toronto’s York University will be hosting a forum on Thursday to discuss ways to improve safety on campus in the wake of the murder. University President Mamdouh Shoukri said the community was relieved police had arrested a suspect.