Using hammer, shovel or axe, serial killer of 65 struck victims as they slept

Yang Xinhai's motives were rape and robbery, police say of four-province rampage

China's 'monster killer' murdered most of his victims in their sleep with hammers and axes and often violated the women's bodies, the Beijing News said yesterday.

Yang Xinhai, who goes by the alias Yang Zhiya, confessed to 65 counts of murder, 23 rapes and five serious attacks shortly after he was arrested in Cangzhou, Hebei province, on November 3.

The latest details about the crimes were published in the Beijing newspaper yesterday, quoting Li Wenping, a policeman from Renhe township.

According to the report, Yang had confessed to 49 murders, 17 rapes and five attacks causing serious injury in Henan province alone. Many of these crimes took place near his home in the poverty-stricken Zhumadian area where he was raised.

Yang had also confessed to eight murders and three rapes in Hebei, two murders and one rape in Shandong and six murders and two rapes in Anhui, the report said.

The total number of victims of these crimes has not yet been confirmed by police. What is known, however, is that the crimes were carried out over two years in 22 separate incidents, with Yang often killing entire families at a time.