Serial killer executed in central China

Serial killer Xiong Zhenlin was to be executed after the judgement had been approved by the Supreme People's Court.

A man who had been given a death sentence for killing eight people, including a two-year-old boy, was executed Thursday in Suizhou of central China's Hubei Province, after the judgement had been approved by the Supreme People's Court, local media reported.

Xiong Zhenlin, a junk collector, was convicted of killing eight people in Luoyang Township on Jan. 4. He was arrested in the provincial capital Wuhan a week later.

Prior to the execution, Xiong expressed his repentance and said he was "not vicious in nature, and was not a demon." He said he committed the murders because he "was anguished deeply in heart", the website of Wuhan Evening News reported Friday.

The victims of Xiong's crimes included five of his employees, a local resident named Xia Guangxiu who had come to Suizhou to sell waste materials, a 43-year-old woman named Zhu Deqing, who Xiong hoped to marry, and Zhu's 2-year-old grandson, the court was told.

In the first instance trial on Feb. 9, the court was told that Xiong, who divorced last September, decided to "take revenge on society" after his hopes of remarrying, either his ex-wife or Zhu, were thwarted.

Local police said Xiong was also in financial difficulties.