A PRIVATE detective today told how he was recruited to track down the East Lancashire relatives of a former public schoolboy accused of one of the world's most gruesome killing sprees.

Blackburn investigator Jack Hill was hired by Charles Ng's defence team to find members of the alleged murderer's family in Clitheroe and Preston.

Ng, 37, is accused of the torture, sexual abuse, and murder of at least a dozen women and children in a remote mountain cabin two hours drive from San Francisco.

As a teenager he lived in the Preston area with his father, a wealthy Manchester businessman, mother and a sister.

He studied at the private Bentham Grammar School near Lancaster, but was expelled after less than a year for shoplifting and stealing from a fellow pupil.

He emigrated to the United States where he was thrown out of the US Marines in 1984 for stealing weapons.

Jack was stunned when he took a call from Californian defence lawyers asking him to track down Ng's Lancashire relatives.

Mr Hill said: "At first I thought it was a joke, but they wanted me to send my CV out to America to be checked by a judge and then they sent official documents back to me confirming that I had been hired by the defence team.

"Ng has got relatives in Preston, and it is believed there are also some family members in Clitheroe, but the ones I spoke to were very reluctant to give out information. I don't think many people would want to be connected with a man accused of such hideous crimes."

Ng's case has been described as one of the most grim murder cases to come before an American court.

He and Leonard Lake, who is now dead, were accused of the kidnapping, sexual abuse, torture and murder of women and children.

Some of the most damning evidence has been provided by the accused - videotapes made of their victims while they were in captivity.

The trail of death ended in 1985 when Lake was arrested for shoplifting, confessed all and then committed suicide.

Police began searching the cabin and discovered dismembered and partly-burned bodies and a concealed torture chamber.

After a 13-year delay, caused by Ng's legal wrangling, jury selection for the trial finally began this month.

After sacking his lawyer in May, Ng has successfully demanded the right to represent himself, and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Mr Hill said: "We were working for Ng's defence team, and although his alleged crimes may be horrific, this man is fighting for his life and deserves legal representation just like anybody else."

Jack Hill Investigations was paid several thousand pounds to work for Ng's defence team.

Ng, who still has traces of his English public school accent, has become the most expensive defendant in Californian history - the £6 million spent by the prosecution surpasses even the bill for O J Simpson in his murder trial.

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