2 January 2002: British financial adviser Michael McCrea murdered his friend Kho Nai Guan and Kho's girlfriend, Lan Ya Ming, in Kho's apartment in Pinewood Garden. With the help of his girlfriend, Audrey Ong, and two others, McCrea disposed Kho and Lan's bodies in a car and abandoned it at the car park in Orchard Towers.

McCrea and Ong fled from Singapore on 5 January and were arrested in Melbourne in June after being on the run for about six months. Ong was deported to Singapore and sentenced in February 2003 to 12 years imprisonment, while McCrea was extradited to Singapore in 2005 and sentenced to 24 years imprisonment in June 2006.

The Orchard Towers double murder

By Tan Yee Lin - Singapore Infopedia

The Orchard Towers double murder refers to the murders of Kho Nai Guan, aged 46, and his girlfriend Lan Ya Ming, aged 30, by Michael McCrea in 2002. The British financial adviser, with the help of three others, dumped the bodies in a car which was subsequently abandoned in the car park of Orchard Towers.

Background

Michael McCrea (alias Mike Townsend), a British financial adviser, was convicted of murdering his driver-and-friend, Kho Nai Guan, and the latter’s girlfriend, Lan Ya Ming, in his Pinewood Gardens apartment in Balmoral Park on 2 January 2002. McCrea was assisted by his girlfriend, Audrey Ong. After the murders, the duo obtained the help of two friends, Gemma Louise Ramsbottom and Justin Cheo Yi Tang, to search the apartment for Kho’s valuables and dispose of the bodies.

Kho’s body was found stuffed in a wicker chest at the back of a silver-coloured Daewoo Chairman 400, while the body of Lan was bundled in cloth in the boot. The car was abandoned in the car park of Orchard Towers. The bodies were only discovered on 7 January 2002 due to the foul smell emanating from the car. Both McCrea and Ong had fled Singapore on 5 January 2002.

Description

McCrea had met and hired Kho as his chauffeur in 1998. After they became friends, he invited Kho and his girlfriend, Lan, to live in his Pinewood Gardens apartment in Balmoral Park. Ong moved into the apartment in mid-2001, when she became McCrea’s girlfriend and secretary.

The murder of Kho on 2 January 2002 was triggered by a quarrel after Kho made a derogatory remark in Mandarin about Ong. Angered by Kho’s act, McCrea retaliated by pushing and punching Kho. Kho fought back but was eventually overpowered and strangled by McCrea.

Lan then tried to leave but was detained in Kho’s bedroom by McCrea and Ong who wanted to find out where Kho might have hidden drugs or money in the apartment. However, she was unable to provide relevant information. McCrea then called a friend, Gemma Louise Ramsbottom, to help him search for the money in the apartment while Ong called her friend, Justin Cheo Yi Tang, to request for help in disposing a “dead rat”. Both Ramsbottom and Cheo claimed they were threatened with bodily harm if they did not cooperate.

As Ramsbottom had her two daughters with her, Ong left the apartment to find a babysitter for the children. When she returned on 3 January 2002, she found Lan motionless on the floor. McCrea told her that Lan was dead. However, when McCrea was placing plastic bags around Lan’s head before transporting her body, she moved and appeared to go into convulsions. McCrea then “managed to suppress her until she stopped moving”. The autopsy later showed that she had been suffocated to death.

On 4 January 2002, the two bodies were deposited in the car and eventually abandoned in the car park of Orchard Towers. McCrea and Ong then fled Singapore for London on 5 January 2002.

Trial

After being at large for about six months, McCrea and Ong were arrested in Melbourne in June 2002. Ong was deported first to Singapore in 2003 where she faced charges of concealing evidence. She was sentenced on 7 February 2003 to 12 years in jail for her part in the disposal of the bodies of the murder victims.

McCrea was eventually extradited to Singapore from Australia and arrived in Singapore on 28 September 2005, after a three-year battle against deportation. Singapore had agreed that he would not be hanged for the murders before Australia agreed to deport him.

Both Ramsbottom and Cheo testified against McCrea14 during the trial where he pleaded guilty to two charges of culpable homicide and one charge of concealing evidence of the killings. He was sentenced by Justice Choo Han Teck to 24 years in jail on 29 June 2006.

This was based on the maximum sentence of 10 years’ jail for the murders of Kho and Lan respectively as well as an additional four years for the disposal of evidence. His appeal was dismissed by Singapore’s Court of Appeal as the three-judge body felt he was not remorseful for the crime.

Michael McCrea killed a woman and a man he called his brother

The Straits Times

May 16, 2016

Michael McCrea tried to escape justice by fleeing Singapore but finally paid the price for killing a woman and his driver – a man he called his brother.

On Jan 7, 2002, a security guard detected a fetid odour coming from a silver Daewoo Chairman parked on the seventh floor of the Orchard Towers carpark.

He alerted the police. The decomposed bodies of 46-year-old Kho Nai Guan and his girlfriend Lan Ya Ming, a 29-year-old from China, were inside the abandoned vehicle.

Mr Kho’s body was stuffed in a wicker chest at the back. The chauffeur’s legs were bent out of shape, his face was battered, and his corpse crawling with maggots.

Madam Lan was in the boot of the Daewoo, dressed only in a spaghetti-strap blouse. Her head was wrapped with blue plastic recycling bags, tied at the neck.

Her body was wrapped in blankets and bedsheets, and tied with wire.

Autopsies showed that both had been strangled.

The $146,000 car was bought and gifted to Mr Kho by his employer, former financial adviser Michael McCrea, after paying the initial deposit of between $20,000 and $30,000.

Three days before the grisly find, the Briton and his Singaporean girlfriend-cum-secretary Audrey Ong Pei Ling had already fled to London.

It was more than three years later that McCrea was back on Singapore soil to face charges of murder.

By then, details of what happened between him and his victims were already made clear.

The deaths were not, as McCrea initially claimed, a result of a fight because Mr Kho had stolen his money to buy drugs.

Yes, there was a fight, but it had started because of a Chinese phrase Mr Kho had called Ong. Translated, the phrase meant slut.

'Brothers'

McCrea and Mr Kho were as close as brothers – so close that they and their lovers lived together in a Pinewood Gardens apartment rented by the British man.

The 44-year-old McCrea, whose pregnant wife was in Australia, was with 22-year-old Ong.

Mr Kho, a father of three who was estranged from his wife, lived with Madam Lan. She too was married, with a husband and twin boys in Fujian.

Former financial adviser McCrea paid Mr Kho $6,000 a month to drive him around, but also took him out to business meals and all the parties he attended.

He even gave “Ah Guan” – his affectionate name for Mr Kho – a $20,000 bonus a month before their falling-out.

It all came apart just after New Year’s Day of 2002, when, after some champagne, the chauffeur called the boss’ girlfriend “jian huo” and spat at her.

This infuriated McCrea, who pounced on Mr Kho, pushed him against the wall and punched his face. He retaliated by breaking a vase on his employer’s head, but this had little effect on McCrea who kicked him, fracturing his ribs.

The Briton, who was an amateur boxer, also punched Mr Kho repeatedly in the face, and held him in an arm-lock so tight that it fractured the small bones in his throat.

When Madam Lan came at McCrea with a knife, he knocked her unconscious.

At about 4.30am, McCrea and Ong realised Mr Kho was dead when they found that his body was cold and that his legs had turned purple.

In desperation, Ong attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while McCrea tried to jump start Mr Kho’s heart with a massage machine. It was too late.

Ong saw Madam Lan moving slightly and took her to Mr Kho’s bedroom.

McCrea suggested they stow the body in a luggage bag, but Ong pointed to the large wicker basket which was used as a coffee table in the living room.

She emptied the basket and they put the body inside.

The cover-up

What followed were frantic arrangements to hide the killing – as well as an attempt to get whatever money Mr Kho had, especially the bonus he had been given the month before.

So Madam Lan, lying dazed on Mr Kho’s bed, was pressed for where it could be hidden.

Meanwhile, McCrea sought help from a friend, Englishwoman Gemma Louise Ramsbottom, who used to do his business paperwork. She had introduced McCrea to Ong about six months earlier, while the latter was working in a Boat Quay pub.

The three talked about what to do with Mr Kho’s body.

Ong placed dumbbells in the basket in case they decided to throw it into the sea. The chest, also filled with Mr Kho’s belongings, was sprayed with air freshener to mask any smell.

Through the day, Ong popped in and out of the apartment to help run errands for Ms Ramsbottom. She claimed Madam Lan was very much alive then.

But when she returned to the flat at about midnight on Jan 3, Madam Lan’s body was on the floor and Ms Ramsbottom was being threatened with death by McCrea if she told anyone what had happened.

Investigations revealed that he had placed plastic bags over Madam Lan’s head and secured them with ties when she appeared to be going into convulsions.

The trio wrapped her body in blankets and bedsheets, securing the bundle with wire. They took measurements of the wicker chest and the back seat of the Daewoo.

When the coast seemed clear at 4am on Jan 4, the chest was loaded onto a trolley and brought down in the lift. All three lifted the basket and placed it on the back seat. It was then back to the apartment to get Madam Lan’s body, which McCrea carried on his shoulders and placed in the boot.

Then came the big question of where to dump the bodies.

The trio could not find a suitable place despite driving – Ms Ramsbottom and McCrea took turns at the wheel – from Jurong to Tuas. The sea off Punggol was no good as there were people on the jetty and it was getting bright.

At about 10am, Ms Ramsbottom was sent home as she needed to pick up her two young daughters from the babysitter.

Finally, McCrea and Ong settled on the top seventh floor of the Orchard Towers carpark.

They took a taxi back to the apartment, and planned to dissolve the bodies with acid.

But Ong’s friend, Mr Cheo Yi Tang, said he could not get his hands on so much acid.

He turned up at the apartment instead with bleach, rubber gloves, sponge and paint – to help remove bloodstains on the walls and floor.

The next day, Jan 5, McCrea booked two air-tickets and left for London with Ong. They later went to Melbourne, to stay with McCrea’s pregnant wife.

In late May, Australian police went to the South Melbourne home to attend to a domestic dispute. McCrea was detained when they found irregularities in his passport and visa.

He was arrested formally on June 13 after it was discovered he was wanted in Singapore. Ong had been nabbed a week earlier.

On November 10, 2002, she landed in Changi Airport and was taken into custody by Singapore police, having agreed to surrender the month before.

She was jailed for 12 years. after pleading guilty to two charges of helping to dispose of the bodies and removing bloodstains from the apartment.

While the defence argued for leniency given that she had turned herself in and testified against McCrea, District Judge Richard Magnus pointed out that she made no attempt to contact authorities here after the duo first ran away.

“The accused’s overall conduct was sordid, macabre, callous, shocking, reprehensible and grossly offensive to any right thinking member of the public,” he said.

Meanwhile, McCrea was fighting tooth and nail to avoid facing justice, all the while being remanded at the maximum-security Port Phillip Prison in Melbourne.

Extradition fight

To bring him back to face trial, Singapore had agreed that he would not be hanged even if found guilty of murder.

Australian law forbids anyone from being extradited to a country where he could receive the death penalty.

A Law Ministry spokesman said at the time: “Without the undertaking, extraditing McCrea and bringing him to justice is not possible. We will then have a situation where an accused will completely escape trial in Singapore or elsewhere.”

In November 2002, an Australian magistrate ordered his extradition. The next month, McCrea petitioned the country’s Minister for Justice and Customs and failed.

Then he went to the country’s Federal Court, and was turned down again.

By now it was August 2005, and McCrea had one last hope – Australia’s High Court, which expedited the hearing given the many delays already.

In September, it took Australia’s highest court less than an hour to turn him down.

McCrea was kept in a straitjacket for two weeks after the final rejection, to stop him from harming himself.

On Sept 27, the 46-year-old boarded Singapore Airlines flight SQ228 and was flanked throughout the seven-hour trip by plain-clothes officers. His hand was constantly cuffed to a detective. At about 9.30pm, a shackled McCrea finally set foot in Singapore.

Two days later he was formally charged with the murders of Mr Kho and Madam Lan.

The trial

In June 2006, he pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter and of causing evidence to disappear.

He was given the maximum of 10 years in jail each for each person’s death and another four for disposing of their bodies.

Justice Choo Han Teck ordered the terms to run one after another.

He also did not backdate McCrea’s jail term to 2002, when he was first detained in Australia, ordering that the jail term start with effect from the day of sentencing.

McCrea was shocked to realise that he would spend the next 24 of years of his life in prison.

Justice Choo made it clear he did not buy McCrea’s plea for a lighter sentence because he was remorseful. He pointed out that Mr Kho was extensively battered over a “relatively small matter”.

As for the death of Madam Lan, also known as Suzie, the judge said: “He had not only prevented Suzie from leaving the flat, but had kicked her in the head before killing her, all because he wanted to find Ah Guan’s money – right after he killed him.”

He wanted the two sentences to run one after the other as there was “a sufficiently long break” between the two killings to warrant their treatment as two separate offences.

As for McCrea’s request to backdate his sentence, Justice Choo pointed out that he chose to stay four years in an Australian jail to fight efforts to extradite him to face trial here.

“It would be invidious for him to ask that his jail sentence commence from the date of his initial remand on account of his own filibuster.”

McCrea appealed, and almost got his 24-year jail term raised.

Before the three-judge Court of Appeal, his lawyer Kelvin Lim had argued that the judge who punished McCrea did not consider his client’s remorse, and described how he had tried to resuscitate Mr Kho.

Justice Andrew Phang pressed Mr Lim on what he would have done if he was in McCrea’s shoes.

“Your best friend, your brother, is dying. Put yourself in your client’s position. What would you have done?”

Mr Lim replied: “I would call an ambulance.”

Justice Phang shot back: “Yes. It’s common humanity.”

Allowing McCrea to serve the two 10-year jail terms concurrently would have meant he need serve only 14 years in all.

Justice Phang told Mr Lim: “There are two deaths and you are asking for a concurrent sentence? Two lives were lost.”

At one point, Justice V.K. Rajah raised the possibility of exercising his powers as a judge to increase the prison term. McCrea could have been jailed for up to an additional three years for disposing of evidence.

But the judges decided against this and kept the original sentence, after finding “the appeal wholly without merit”.

The killer: Michael McCrea

He left school without a single O level, but that did not stop the press back home to recognise his business savvy. A 1980 profile described McCrea as “Nottingham’s Million Pound Man” after bringing in £1.2 million in nine months for a financial-services firm he worked for.

He first came to South-east Asia in the early 1990s and met his Australian wife Brunetta Stocco in Singapore.

For many years, he was a financial adviser who enticed expatriate clients with his “Expat Survival Kit” – a plan to grow an offshore nest egg that could not be detected by tax authorities.

It seems he once had a run-in with Singapore authorities and was fined for flouting financial regulations.

His $2,000-a-month apartment in the Pinewood Gardens Condominium at Balmoral Park. was decorated with designer pillows by Versace and there were candles all over. He had a punching bag attached to the living room ceiling since he had been an amateur boxer.

He threw noisy parties at the condo’s poolside, which caused neighbours to complain on several occasions.

Mrs McCrea told a British newspaper that she left Singapore while pregnant with their first child as “she didn’t like the lifestyle he was living”.

Their marriage was over, she said, after he turned up unexpectedly on her Melbourne doorstep with his girlfriend and co-accused Audrey Ong.

The victims

Victim #1: Mr Kho Nai Guan

In the 1980s, his electronics dealership was lucrative enough for him to own four cars. But that collapsed in 1989. After working in his brother’s a pet-food business, he decided to set up his own company in the same line. But that folded in 1992, and left him with over $18,000 in debts.

Still, friends knew him as well-spoken and friendly.

In 1997, he was one of 50 picked when Yellow-Top Cab needed cabbies for its new fleet of Mercedes-Benz E-250 taxis.

He even went on to receive a Singapore Courtesy Council award for his customer service.

In 1998, he met Michael McCrea and six months later became his personal driver.

But his relationships with foreign women caused a rift in his marriage to a postal worker, with whom he had a son and two daughters. In 1999, he moved out of his home. After his death, his family identified his body from the Thai tattoos on his back.

Victim #2: Madam Lan Ya Ming

She was 30-year-old teacher from Fujian province.

According to her husband Lin Jia Song, who then worked in a telecommunications company in Fujian, they had been married for eight years.

She went to Singapore in October 2001 on a social visit pass, to apply for a teaching position and visit a friend here. She called home once every week since she left. The last he heard from her was on Dec 29.

The couple had eight-year-old twin boys.

It was only 10 months after her body was found that her 32-year-old husband identified and claimed her body.

Grinning, the double killer gets 24 years

Double killer Michael McCrea was today starting a 24 year jail term in Singapore

By Evening Chronicle

June 29, 2006

Double killer Michael McCrea was today starting a 24 year jail term in Singapore. Businessman McCrea, 48, pleaded guilty to killing his driver Kho Nai Guan, 46, and 29-year-old Chinese national Lan Ya Ming.

The Singapore court proceeded on two counts of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and one of disposing of evidence.

Although McCrea, originally from Penshaw, County Durham, had pleaded guilty to the three charges, he objected to two lines in the statement of facts read out to him.

He initially maintained that he did not stamp on Lan Ya Ming's head while she was lying on the bed, and that he told a third party he had to "silence" Lan, as she had witnessed the incident.

Post mortem examination reports showed that Kho had been strangled, while Lan was smothered to death.

Justice Choo Han Teck said he could not proceed with the plea of guilt, neither could he ask the prosecution to delete those lines or request McCrea to admit to the statement of facts.

After consulting his defence lawyer, McCrea changed his mind and admitted to the statement of facts in its totality.

A fourth charge, also of disposing of evidence after the killing in his apartment in January 2002, was also taken into consideration.

He was sentenced to 10 years for each killing and four years for disposing of evidence. It brings to an end a four year saga which has shocked Singapore.

After the January 2 killings, McCrea and his girlfriend Audrey Ong fled to Australia.

Investigators soon named McCrea as someone they wanted to speak to and he was traced to the home in Melbourne he shared with his second wife Brunetta.

He had turned up there with his lover Audrey Ong, claiming the deaths were carried out by a Chinese gang.

Faced with the threat of hanging if returned to Singapore, he fought extradition from Australia for three years.

He was only handed over when the Singapore authorities promised the death penalty would not be an option.

Ong, now 25, was sentenced in February 2003 by a Singapore judge to 12 years in prison after admitting helping to dispose of the bodies.