China's 'Jack the Ripper' sentenced to death for raping, murdering 11 women and girls

Gao Chengyong, who has been dubbed China's "Jack the Ripper," was sentenced to death for raping and murdering 11 women and girls. (Reuters)

A man who has been dubbed China’s “Jack the Ripper” was sentenced to death Friday for raping and murdering 11 women and girls during a 14-year spree.

Gao Chengyong, 54, was convicted of multiple counts of homicide, rape, robbery and mutilation of corpses after he admitted to killing 11 people between 1988 and 2002.

Authorities said Gao targeted young women in the northwest Baiyin city in Gansu Province and Boatour city in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Sky News reported. He followed them home to rape and kill them.

The youngest victim was just eight years old.

Ending a 28-year search, Gao was arrested in August 2016 at his own grocery store following a DNA test stemming from an unrelated crime committed by one of his relatives, the state television’s English channel reported.

“The suspect has a sexual perversion and hates women,” police said in 2004 after linking the crimes together. “He’s reclusive and unsociable, but patient.”