A British businessman is behind bars in a Hong Kong jail charged with murdering his ‘lover’ at a waterfall.
Jamie Chapman, 34, was raised by his parents Kevin and Lee in a £1m detached house in Surrey.
He sought to make his fortune in Hong Kong, launching upmarket ice cream and coffee shops.
Last night however he was in prison being held on suspicion of murdering a 25-year-old Indonesian housemaid at a beauty spot in the former colony on Monday.
Police were called after Novitasari Mevi was found dead at picturesque Waterfall Bay Park in Pok Fu Lam on the south coast of Hong Kong island.
According to local reports she had suffered severe head injuries.It is claimed in local media that she had been embroiled in a clandestine affair with Chapman – who is married to a woman said to a be a Hong Kong local, aged 36.
It is alleged that the supposed lovers met at the park, with witnesses claiming to have seen them together before Miss Mevi was found dead.
The Briton was arrested along with his wife at a high-speed railway station in West Kowloon on the mainland on Tuesday, apparently after heading away from home, but as they then made their way back to Hong Kong – where they live in a high-rise flat not far from the scene of the maid’s death.
Yesterday morning Chapman appeared at Hong Kong’s eastern court to face a charge of murdering Miss Mevi last Sunday.
The prosecution successfully sought an adjournment so police investigation can continue – and there was neither any objection from Chapman’s lawyer, nor any request for bail.
Chapman’s wife was freed on bail after being arrested on suspicion of aiding an offender. She must report to a police station in December.
As a result the Briton was remanded in custody awaiting his next court hearing in January.
Principal Magistrate Don So Man-Lung told the Briton: ‘In the meantime, you will stay in jail.’
Superintendent Sin Kwok-Ming said Chapman had done ‘many unreasonable things, including not contacting police’.
Chapman launched an upmarket Italian ice cream ‘gelateria’ called Givres in one of central Hong Kong’s smartest areas eight years ago.
He had more recently relocated the shop to the high-rise city’s equivalent of London’s trendy Soho, and renamed it Barista, with more of an emphasis on coffee.
Online he boasts that his ice cream concept ‘was born in London’, and that his ice creams sculpted into the form of roses are ‘topped off with Great British service’.
He was also involved in helping promote a miracle coffee grinder-cum-coffee-maker, Brewbuddy, launched in Britain by his father Kevin, 63, and sister Sophie, 31.
Yesterday, the curtains were drawn at the family’s smart £1m detached home in Virginia Water, Surrey, and there was no response to enquiries.