Former British banker denied new trial in HK double murder case

HONG KONG - A former British banker who was jailed for life in late 2016 for the murder of two Indonesian women he tortured and raped will not be given a new trial, Hong Kong's Court of Appeal ruled on Friday.

Rurik Jutting, 32, a former Bank of America employee, had denied murdering Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, in his luxury apartment in 2014 on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to alcohol and drug abuse and sexual disorders.

The Cambridge-educated Jutting pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in a horrific case that sent shivers through the Asian financial hub.

Jutting's lawyer Gerard McCoy had earlier argued that the judge had misdirected the jury by narrowing down the scope of the defence case by conflating an abnormality of mind with a psychiatric disorder.