UK NEWS
THE SISTERS BUTCHERED IN THEIR BIRMINGHAM CITY FLAT
Police guard the outside of the apartment block in Ladywood, Birmingham
Thursday September 18,2008
By Martin Stote
TWO women butchered in a flat by a frenzied killer were sisters, it emerged yesterday.
They were named as Algerians Yasmine Larbi-Cherif, 22, and Sabrina Larbi-Cherif, 19.
Yasmine was a keen belly dancer and taught Balliamo belly dancing in Birmingham city centre.
The last comment on her Myspace page was from Sabrina saying “You look like an angel in the picture. Love you – Sabrina.”
Yasmine is thought to have been a biochemistry student. Sabrina was about to start a French studies course at university.
Neighbours say they had lived in the luxury apartment in Birmingham since June.
A close friend said: “They were both bright, decent young women. They were two lovely sisters from a very respectable background.”
Detectives yesterday questioned a 28-year-old man about the double murder in the Birmingham apartment.
He was arrested as he tried to board a ferry in Dover early on Tuesday morning.
Investigators say he was known to the girls, who were killed at the weekend. The ferocious attack, may have involved bladed and blunt weapons.
The Jupiter apartment complex, between the city’s clubland and the run-down Ladywood suburb, has recently suffered with problems from prostitution and drug activity.
Neighbours said the sisters may have been caught up in a rowdy party which spilled out on to their landing on Saturday night.
Resident Lee Lindsay, 27, said: “The concierge said it was like a bloodbath in the flat.”
Big Brother winner Kate Lawler, 28, who lives in the complex, said: “What’s happened is really sad and it must be dreadful for the families of the girls involved.”
Detectives yesterday continued to stress that there was no evidence to link the sisters to the vice trade.
