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A Hong Kong couple  imprisoned and beaten during  a shopping trip to Shenzhen last week plan  to take  their case to Hong Kong police and British diplomats after being snubbed by mainland police.

Salesman Leung Chung-kwong still bears the scars of his ordeal with his wife Elizabeth when they were locked inside a steel-shuttered shop in a mall on New Year's Day.

Although apprehensive about returning to Shenzhen, the couple went back yesterday  to get a police report number so  the British consulate in  Guangzhou can investigate.

Mrs Leung, a Hong Kong resident and British passport holder, said: 'This whole incident has been extremely stressful and depressing; one feels so helpless.'

She  and Mr Leung, 41, went to Shenzhen on January 1 to buy cushions and curtains at Lowu Commercial City. They were later  approached by two  men in their 20s who led them into a VCD shop. They were  asked to make a purchase.

'As soon as we entered the shop, the metal shutters on both sides were slammed down and someone locked both shutters from the outside,' Mrs Leung said.

The couple refused to make  a purchase and demanded to leave the shop immediately.

'After we repeatedly requested them to open the shutter, one boy, who spoke English, violently grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from the shutter,' Mrs Leung said.

She  banged on the shutters and  shouted for help.

Mrs Leung was released from  the shop but Mr Leung was not.

'They told him he had to pay them if he wanted to be released,' she said. 'Later one of them punched him and kicked him. By this time the corridor was full of people watching, but no one offered any help.

'The three boys eventually stopped attacking Kwong when I managed to put myself between him and the attackers.'

A security guard later took the couple to a police station in  Lo Wu. But Mrs Leung said the  police had been unhelpful and seemed unwilling  to file a report.

'The police said the shop would be locked and there was nothing they could do,' she said. 'The policemen refused to give Kwong their names. They did not give us a report number, and did not advise us to have a medical check-up in China.'

Mrs Leung said she now believed that the police at Lo Wu deliberately misled them.

'It was only once we had reported the case to the Hong Kong police at the border crossing that we were told that we should have been given a police report number in China,' she said.

'We were told by the police and the ambulancemen that people are frequently attacked in this shopping centre.'



Couple's tale of terror at notorious Shenzhen mall