Former Merrill Lynch trader Rurik Jutting sentenced to life in jail for serial murder
Two years ago, police were alerted to a potential horrifying intent by Rurik Jutting when he quit his position at Merrill Lynch as an interbank trader, and left a sinister message on his automated email reply. Now he will spend his life behind bars
In November 2014, former Merrill Lynch trader, British citizen Rurik Jutting, became the suspect of serial murder as a result of automated reply messages that he left for those attempting to contact him on his departure from his position at the global financial institution.
During the business day for most executives, automated reply messages which are sent from the email of executives who are away from their offices for a period of time are, by and large, relatively anodyne and forgettable.
Indeed, the vast majority follow the very same line, stating that the employee is not available and will contact the sender of the email upon return, or if it was as a result of leaving the company, a note of whom to contact instead. One particular automated message Mr. Jutting, however, had a far more chilling tone.
“I am out of the office. Indefinitely. For urgent enquiries, or indeed any enquiries, please contact someone who is not an insane psychopath” was Mr. Jutting’s most alarming email response message.
This aroused the suspicion of the astute Police investigators which swiftly accused Mr. Jutting of the murder of two women who were found with severe fatal injuries, and were identified as prostitutes.
Mr. Jutting, who is British and was educated at the prestigious Winchester College, resides in Hong Kong and had been employed by Merrill Lynch in the Asian financial center. He was a successful trader with the firm, and at the age of 29 had, according to many reports at the time become obsessed with money and power.
The message which appeared as an automated response to senders of email to Mr. Jutting’s corporate email address at Merrill Lynch, was authored on October 31, 2014 and was to advise that he had quit his position at the firm, however he had according to colleagues, been suspected of being devastated after his fiancee, who was also an interbank trader, alegedly left him.
Subsequently, Mr. Jutting telephoned Hong Kong Police at 3am on the morning of November 1. On arrival at Mr. Jutting’s apartment, the Police found a prostitute named Jesse Lorena Ruri with her throat slashed, and a second woman who was in a suitcase with severe lacerations resulting in near decapitation.
Whilst the Police searched for more victims after finding photographs of the deceased women on Mr. Jutting’s cellular phone, Mr. Jutting was arrested and appeared in court for a short custody hearing this morning, and was remanded in custody until November 10.
Officers arrived at his blood-spattered 31st-floor apartment to find a 30-year-old Indonesian prostitute, named locally as Jesse Lorena Ruri, still alive despite gaping knife wounds to her throat and buttocks, however she died soon after.
Today, almost two years after this awful set of circumstances, Mr. Jutting has been found guilty of the serial murder of the two women.
Mr Jutting will now serve a life sentence in jail, having been convicted at a trial which featured absolutely horrifying video eveidence of the actions of brutality that he engaged in that evening.
At the trial, Mr. Jutting told the jury that he was “sorry beyond words” and that he had been haunted by the double murder of the Indonesian women Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Musiasih.
‘I am haunted by the memory of my actions towards (the victims) and the knowledge of the acute pain I have caused to their loved ones, in particular Sumarti Ningsih’s young son who is now motherless. For what it may be worth, I am sorry. I am sorry beyond words.’
Trial judge Mr Justice Stuart Moore did not show empathy for Mr Jutting’s attempts at remorse, instead tore him apart in court with descriptions of ‘evil’ and referring to him as a ‘monster’, before saying that either discription is not adequate for the horror he had inflicted on his victims.
Mr Jutting’s lawyer, Tim Owen, QC, asked the judge if he could read out a hand-written note Jutting had given him before jurors returned their verdict.
‘My actions in respect of Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Musiasih and in the day proceeding the death of Sumarti Ningsih were horrific by any standard of homicide trials,’ the note said.
‘I observed that the nine members of the jury were observant and thoughtful. They have delivered their verdict to which I cannot and do not have any objections.
‘I am aware I face two life sentences with a low probability of release on parole even in the distant future. I accept this as just and appropriate punishment.’
