Ding family murders police make further arrest
A woman has been arrested in connection with the murders of a family of four.
Jifeng and Helen Ding and their two daughters, Alice, 12, and Xing, 18, were stabbed to death at their home in Wootton, Northamptonshire, last May.
The 22-year-old woman, from Southend in Essex, was arrested in Plumstead, south-east London, on suspicion of conspiracy to assist an offender.
Three people arrested earlier this week, on suspicion of the same offence, have been released on bail.
They were a 54-year-old woman from the Radford area of Coventry, a 39-year-old woman who was arrested in Gloucester and a man aged 25, arrested in Islington, north London.
Police said the woman arrested in Plumstead would be questioned at a London police station.
Last year, detectives named Anxiang Du, who has not been traced, as the main suspect in the case.
Mr Du, who worked at a herbal medicine shop in Birmingham, went missing a day after losing what has been described as a bitter court battle over his shared business interests with the Ding family.
It is known that Mr Du left his home in Coventry at 10:30 BST on 29 April, believed to have been the day of the murders, and was seen arriving at Birmingham New Street Station at 11:22.
He was then seen at Northampton Station at 12:35 before getting on a bus to the Ding family home.
The investigation moved to London when the family's Vauxhall Corsa hire car was found in St Johns Wood.
The suspect is thought to have used the hire car to flee.
Jifeng Ding was a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Relatives of the Ding family said after the murders: "Jifeng and Ge were in the prime of life and had much to offer. Xing and Alice were bright and talented children who had their lives in front of them.
"To have our family taken away from us in this way is unbearably painful."
Northamptonshire Police officers have travelled around the UK, visiting significant Chinese communities, as part of the investigation.
Officers have also travelled to China.