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Cliff hideout of 'Spiderman' suspect

Police believe they have found the hideout where the 'Spiderman' stabbing suspect has clung to a remote cliff for weeks as he hid from the authorities.

Meanwhile, police are investigating whether a man's body found yesterday in the sea south of Tung Lung Chau, near Shek O, is connected to the belongings found on the ledge.

Police were called to Tung Lung Chau to investigate a possible missing person case after someone reported an abandoned backpack and climbing rope on a hard-toaccess cliff ledge.

Rock climbers who regularly visit the area said they had first seen a person camped on the ledge about 21/2 weeks ago and had seen him several times since. They said the Chinese man had tried to hide on several occasions when they had been climbing nearby.

'He's been there for weeks. He was normally in his sleeping bag when we'd see him,' one climber said.

On one occasion the climbers spoke to the man but he hid his face behind a black cloth.

He told them he was from Shenzhen and had lost his job, which had made him depressed. He had been camping on the ledge to 'clear his head'.

Police and emergency crews yesterday used ropes to reach the cliff. Among the belongings they found the Hong Kong identity card of the suspect in a stabbing in On Tin Estate in Lam Tin, police sources said.

A police spokesman said last night the ID card holder was related to two other ongoing crime investigations.

On November 7 a man climbed into the 24th-floor window of his ex-girlfriend's room and stabbed her repeatedly.

He escaped by abseiling from the window, leaving behind a climbing rope and chalk used by climbers to improve their grip. He was then nicknamed 'Spiderman'.

At the time of the attack the suspect was on bail after being charged with rape.

Yesterday, a Chinese man in his 50s, accompanied by two women in their 20s, was seen near the ledge. He told the person who called police that he was looking for his missing son. The trio could not be found when police arrived.

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