Yard fears Triad murder

A restaurant owner has been found murdered after being kidnapped from her home.

Detectives said today that the mother of two may have been snatched by a Triad gang who wanted to extort cash from her husband, a successful businessman.

Yuk Ying Phuah, 43, was abducted from her home in Wembley as she prepared to go to work in one of the family's restaurants.

The killers are thought to have suffocated her then wrapped her body in a sleeping bag before dumping it 20 miles away near a lay-by on the A20 in Sidcup.

Mrs Phuah and her husband, Boon Phuah, own thriving restaurants in Middlesex and Wiltshire and a food supply business.

Today 52-year-old Mr Phuah and the couple's 15-year-old son and 13-yearold daughter were "absolutely distraught". Mr Phuah told detectives: "I don't know why anyone would want to kidnap or kill my wife."

Police received a report of a burglary at the £500,000 family home in Meadow Way, Wembley, at midnight on Friday.

But soon afterwards it became clear Mrs Phuah had been snatched from the ransacked house.

At 10am on Saturday a man spotted what looked like a bundle of clothes on the London-bound lane of the A20 at Sidcup, just after the junction with the A222 to Chislehurst.

Police discovered Mrs Phuah's halfnaked body inside a blue-and-white striped sleeping bag.

Although she had been suffocated, detectives refused to discuss exactly how she died for "operational reasons". Mrs Phuah - who is Vietnamese but had lived in Britain for more than 20 years and was described as "hard-working and friendly" - was last seen near her home at 2pm on Friday.

Family friend and close neighbour Steve Wong, a 31-year-old project manager, said he returned home at 11.30pm on Friday to find Mrs Phuah's daughter screaming outside the front door.

The family had found the door open and no sign of Mrs Phuah.

Mr Wong said: "The girl was screaming up the stairs ' Whoever is up there, come down'. She was hysterical and shouting 'Where's Mum?'.

"The house had been ransacked. All her possessions were all over the place, her purse and her mobile phone were still there and a vacuum cleaner had been left plugged in and was still switched on.

"There was a bag of washing in the hallway which was still damp as though she had been in the middle of doing something.

"The carpet in the hallway was scuffed as though there had been a struggle, and both the parents' and the daughter's bedrooms were all messed up." Mr Wong said Mr Phuah had made a "considerable" fortune from the restaurants and by delivering stock to other restaurants.

He added: "With Chinese people, if your business is doing well people get jealous, especially the gangsters. Generally how it works is if you are running a successful business you may be approached by someone who will ask you to give them something - and if you don't you are in trouble.

"It is possible the Triads were involved - it is hard to believe that someone would go into a house in broad daylight and kidnap a woman for no reason. Why would anyone do that?"

Neighbour Catherine Miller, 53, said: "Yuk was very industrious. I always saw her doing things in the garden or around the house.

"She was a quiet woman but would always say hello.

"It has come as a huge shock. I was not aware of her being in trouble, but I last saw her on Thursday before she disappeared and she was hurrying to her house. The front door was open, which was a bit unusual. She appeared anxious."

Detective Chief Inspector Colin Dell, who is leading the murder hunt, said: "This may have been a kidnap attempt which went wrong, but we are keeping an open mind.

"Kidnappings are known to happen at times in the Chinese community in London. But there were no demands for money in this case."

Mr Dell added: "We need to hear from anyone who saw any strange activities outside the family's home on Friday night or anyone acting unusually near a car at the lay-by on the A20."

Anyone with information should call the murder incident room on 0208 217 6530 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.