Reward offered over murder in flat used as brothel

Published24 October 2026

A £20,000 reward is being offered by Crimestoppers in connection with the murder of a man who was found dead in a Birmingham flat in 2022.

Jinming Zhang had been stabbed multiple times before he was found in the property, which police said was being used as a brothel, in Moseley Street in Digbeth.

West Midlands Police previously released CCTV of a suspect, while a DNA sample from the suspected killer found at the scene did not produce a match on the national database.

The case was featured in the BBC series of Forensics: The Real CSI last year, which revealed police believed the murder suspect may have sustained a hand injury in the frenzied attack.

Jenny Birch, who has been overseeing the investigation, urged anyone with information "no matter how small" to contact police.

"Someone out there knows something, and we won't give up until we have answers," she said.

"Mr Zhang was killed in such awful circumstances, and we will not stop until we find out who did this to him.

"People needn't be afraid to come forward with names. The DNA sample we have means that we are able to quickly and easily eliminate people from our ongoing investigation."

The motive was thought to have been robbery, although police have not been able to confirm that.

The masked suspect in the CCTV was described as black, in his late 20s at the time, about 5ft 4ins and of an average build.

He was captured wearing a dark hat and dark clothing as he walked along Barford Street just before the murder.

The DNA sample was submitted for forensic testing, which concluded that the suspect was a man and there was a 99.99% probability that he was black.

Crimestoppers said the reward was for information given anonymously that would lead to the conviction of the person responsible for the death of Zhang, a Chinese national.

Get in touch

Tell us which stories we should cover in Birmingham and the Black Country

Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, external, X, external and Instagram, external.

Related topics

Crimestoppers

Birmingham

Related internet links

West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police