Police reopen case of missing women after 'The Beast' dies in prison

"Prolific rapist": Andrzej Kunowski died last week in jail. He has been linked to the disappearance of Elizabeth Chau, below

The mother of a London student who went missing a decade ago hopes finally to learn the truth about her disappearance after police reopened their investigation following the death of a dangerous sex offender.

Elizabeth Chau, a student at Thames Valley University, was 19 when she disappeared from Ealing in April 1999. Serial rapist Andrzej Kunowski, 52, described by police as "probably the most dangerous" of all sex offenders, was linked to her disappearance as well as that of Lola Shenkoya, 27, who went missing from Ealing just months after Elizabeth.

Kunowski, dubbed "The Beast", was jailed for life in March 2004 after being found guilty of the 1997 murder of Katerina Koneva, 12, in west London.

The Polish illegal immigrant came to Britain on false documents in 1996 after absconding from prison in Poland, where he had been convicted of 17 rapes and faced a total of 70 charges.

Police have launched a new probe into the disappearance of the two missing girls following Kunowski's death last week in Franklin Prison, Durham. He died of heart failure.

Officers are appealing for his former cellmates or anyone who knew him to come forward with information.

Ms Chau's mother, Phung, today said that she believes her daughter may still be alive and appealed for people with information to contact police.

She said: "The waiting is so difficult. We just want to know the truth. I want someone to come forward."

She added: "The police have told us she could still be alive and that is what we have to believe. All we can do is hope that we will see Elizabeth again one day."


Elizabeth Chau

Police are also keen to speak to anyone with details about other crimes Kunowski may have committed.

Mr Manning said: "He was a very prolific rapist and a very dangerous man. I can't believe with his past he came here and didn't carry on that same frequency of attacking people."

The sex killer was found guilty of strangling Katerina after being convicted in 2002 of repeatedly raping a 21-year-old Korean tourist at his Acton bedsit. His DNA was then linked to Katerina's death.

Grieving mother Zaklina Koneva said: "I had not prepared myself for this day, being told that the evil man who murdered my daughter was dead. I feel numb. I believe he has escaped his punishment.

"I said in 2004 that 'I hope that this evil murderer burns in hell'. Well, I hope this is the case."

Anyone with any information regarding Kunowski should call police on 020 8358 0300 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in