Bloodstains aroused policeman's suspicions over British woman's death on Lamma Island

Bloodstains on floor tiles raised a police inspector's suspicions when he searched the house belonging to the niece of retired British Salvation Army major Janet Gilson, a court heard yesterday.

Former police senior inspector Chung Shing-keung, now retired, went to the Lamma Island home of Gilson's niece, Julia, on March 19, 2011, after she called police about the stains.

On March 15, Julia had reported her aunt missing. Gilson, 64, from Essex, had been visiting her and her young daughter, and was staying with them in their home in Yung Shue Wan.

"The bloodstains on the tiles aroused my suspicion, and I instructed my officers to conduct a thorough search inside the flat, including underneath the sofa," Chung told the Court of First Instance.

Gilson's body was found when the officers lifted up the sofa, he said.

The woman's body was "concealed by a sofa" in Julia's home, prosecutor Audrey Campbell-Moffat SC told the jury on Monday.