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Chinese nanny who set fire to employer’s flat – killing mother and three children – gets death sentence

Mo Huanjing started the blaze in Hangzhou intending to quickly put it out to win favour with her boss and borrow more money to pay off gambling debts

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Mo Huanjing pictured in court in Hangzhou in Zhejiang province. Photo: Qq.com
Wendy Wuin Beijing

A former nanny who set fire to her employer’s flat in eastern China, killing a mother and three children, has been sentenced to death, according to a news agency report.

Mo Huanjing started the blaze in Hangzhou in Zhejiang province intending to quickly put it out and win favour with her boss to borrow more money to pay off gambling debts, China News Service reported.

However the flames spread quickly and mother Zhu Xiaozhen and her children aged six, eight and 11 were trapped in the blaze last June and died after breathing in poisonous carbon monoxide fumes.

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Mo was sentenced by the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court on Friday.

Mo was addicted to gambling, heavily in debt and so moved away from her home area of Guangdong province to look for work, the report quoted the court ruling as saying.

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