A Chinese couple battered to death in a Newcastle terrace earlier this week may have been part of a global internet betting scam, police have revealed.

Zhen Xing Yang is believed to have been TORTURED for up to an hour before he died in the flat he shared with girlfriend Xi Zhou in Newcastle’s West End from a combination of wounds.

The couple’s cat is also thought to have been drowned by their killers.

Zhen placed adverts on UK-based Chinese-language websites recruiting people to attend football matches around the world.

Agent Ex

One theory is that football shown Chinese TV were shown a minute behind the live action in the stadium, so gambling syndicates would place employees at games to gain an advantage.

So many people were recruited to watch the games that gambling bosses needed agents to manage them.

Internet rumours — now under investigation by detectives — suggested Zhen was one of these agents, and that some of his recruits had disputed “missing payments”.

Another theory being probed is that the couple were selling FAKE university degrees and international driving licences.

‘Angered and Upset’

A Northumbria Police spokesman said examination of computers and mobile phone data showed the pair WERE involved in internet cons which had “angered and upset a number of people”.

“We are currently investigating this as a possible motive for the killings,” he added.