Neighbours of a Chinese man murdered in Colchester today described him as a mysterious character and heavy gambler.

Staff at a betting shop near where Hok Wan Leung, 34, lived said he was a frequent visitor.

Mr Leung, an unemployed chef, was battered to death at the Middleborough roundabout in Colchester at 2am on Sunday.

He could have been on his way to an illegal gambling den in the town and police are not ruling out that the killing could be linked to Chinese gang warfare.

Mr Leung was married but lived alone in a house in Watford, Hertfordshire. He had no children.

His neighbours spoke of their shock of hearing of his violent death in television news programmes and confirmed reports of his passion for gambling.

A 24-year-old cleaner, who did not wish to be named, said: "It is such a terrible thing to have happened. He was such a quiet man. I have lived here for more than a year and in all that time he never spoke a word to me even when we passed each other on the stairs.

"You never heard any noise from him and he kept himself to himself. Whenever he left the flats he always went to the betting shop.

"Never once did I ever see him go anywhere other than the betting shop."

Another neighbour, a 52-year-old unemployed man, added: "We would stop and say a quick hello in passing and he always appeared to be a quiet man.

"It's hard to imagine him being involved in something with a Triad gang, but to hear of the way he was killed is horrible. What is the country coming to?"

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