Rurik Jutting: British banker described murdered Hong Kong sex workers as 'simply prey'

'For a short period of time the human side of me kicked in. I knew that was wrong. But that lasted briefly, a few minutes. I did some coke and that side of me just went,' says Jutting in police interview

Rurik Jutting is accused of raping, torturing and killing two women in his Hong Kong flat (Reuters)

British banker Rurik Jutting, who is accused of murdering two Indonesian women in his Hong Kong flat, described one of the victims as "simply prey," his trial has heard.

In the third day of the trial, the jury was shown footage of police interviews with the 31-year-old where Mr Jutting described his treatment of the two women to officers.

Mr Jutting has admitted killing two Indonesian women, whose bodies were found in his apartement on 1 November 2014, but has pleaded not guilty to two murder charges on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Prosecutors have rejected his attempt to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

On the killing of Sumarti Ningsih, 23, the court hear Mr Jutting told police: "Progressively I went from hitting her quite lightly to hitting her quite hard to abusing her very badly. I think she felt the threat of death. It escalated. It got out of hand.

"I was thinking of a way to let her go in a way that it would not be traceable to me. Clearly if I let her go I would be caught, or I would have to kill her. These are the two options I saw."

Mr Jutting was said to have added: "Once I had killed her, after taking more cocaine, my initial response was to jump from the balcony."

On the second day of the trial, the jury were shown 20 minutes of video which Mr Jutting took of him allegedly torturing Ms Ningsih, South China Morning Post reports.

When questioned by police over the second victim, 26-year-old Seneng Mujiasih, the court were told that Mr Jutting said: "She was very brave ... She was struggling, she was resisting, she was shouting.

"I don’t know why I chose her. I’ve never met her before. She was, at that point in time, she was simply prey ... I was hunting for prey."

The former securities trader also told police he had increased his cocaine consumption in the six weeks before the killings.

"For a short period of time the human side of me kicked in. I knew that was wrong. But that lasted briefly, a few minutes. I did some coke and that side of me just went," he told police, the court heard.

The trial continues.