Landlord admits killing student

A landlord accused of murdering two female students by slowly suffocating them admitted yesterday that he had killed one of them.

In a change of plea on the second day of his Old Bailey trial, Kim Kyu Soo, 31, said he was guilty of the manslaughter of Song In Hea, 22. But his plea to that lesser charge was not accepted by the prosecution and Mr Kim's trial on charges for two murders continues.

Mr Kim allegedly put one of the women he had killed in a suitcase and the other in a sealed cupboard, the court was told. Mr Kim, 31, from Holborn, central London, denies murdering Jin Hyo Jung, 21, in October 2001, and Ms Song In Hea, 22, in December 2001.

Both were South Koreans on visits to Britain when "they were murdered in the most chilling and distressing circumstances", Jonathan Laidlaw, for the prosecution, said as he opened the case yesterday.

Both were almost naked when they were eventually found. They were bound by the wrists with packing tape so they could not resist, the prosecution said. Their noses were also taped. Money had been withdrawn from cash machines using their Pin numbers, Mr Laidlaw said.

Neither victim had been subjected to a sexual assault, according to the post-mortem examinations. "Precisely why he killed them is not clear," Mr Laidlaw said. "A more sinister possibility is that he achieved a sadistic form of pleasure from the slow deliberate form of killing, and sex and money was simply incidental.

"There is a dreadful possibility that the killings were deliberately extended so that information could be extracted from the victims."

The suitcase containing Ms Jin's body was dumped in a country lane in Askham Richard, North Yorkshire, and not found for a month. Ms Song "was concealed in a cupboard which was sealed at an address in east London. It was not discovered until March last year," Mr Laidlaw said.

After Mr Kim changed his plea, Mr Laidlaw told the court there were some circumstances where prosecution would accept a manslaughter plea. "This is not one of those cases," he said.

Mr Kim, also a South Korean, came to Britain in 2000 to study English. He supported himself by running two guest houses for students travelling to Britain to study or as tourists, the court was told. He was described by those who knew him as apparently kind and charming.

The trial continues.