Northamptonshire Police named Anxiang Du, a businessman from Coventry who had been involved in a legal dispute with the Ding family, as the prime suspect in the case.

Du fled the murder scene in the Ding's rented car; he drove to London and travelled to Paris by coach.

[7] At 10:44 am on 29 April 2011, Anxiang Du boarded a train from Coventry to Birmingham, carrying a knife and his passport, after leaving his family a farewell note.

Du stabbed Jeff and Helen Ding to death in their kitchen before going upstairs to find the two girls, Xing and Alice, in a bedroom.

[9] During the attacks a 999 call, during which the screams of both girls could be heard, was made from Alice Ding's mobile telephone at 3:32 pm.

[10] Du stole the family's Vauxhall Corsa; at 9:43 pm that evening he stopped at junction 15a services on the M1 motorway where he bought a map of Northamptonshire.

[8] He abandoned the Dings' car in St. John's Wood, where it remained for eleven days and accrued nine parking tickets.

[8] A man believed to be Du was found living in a partly built block of flats where he slept on a makeshift bed and cooked food on a small gas-powered stove.

[8][11] Police officers visited Madrid and believe their inquiries there "played a significant part in the suspect's apprehension".

[15] On 20 February 2013, Anxiang Du was extradited to the UK[16] with the approval of the Moroccan Ministry of Justice working with the British Home Office.

[20] However, when Du made his plea and case management hearing on 10 May 2013, a Mandarin interpreter failed to arrive at the court.

He was expected to appear before the court again on 17 October to enter a plea but this was postponed until 4 November when Du denied four counts of murder.

[26] The appeal was rejected with the statement that the trial judge's approach could not be faulted and that even more draconian whole-life tariffs had been upheld in other cases of whole families being murdered – including that of Jeremy Bamber.