Mainland police have arrested three people in connection with the murder of Hilary Bower, a British national and Hong Kong resident who went missing in March.

A police statement posted on Friday stated that three individuals were arrested last Friday, including a 38-year-old woman surnamed Xu, a 28-year-old man surnamed Sun and a 23-year-old man surnamed Liu – all from Hubei province.

Bower reportedly went to his second apartment in Nanshan, Shenzhen after crossing the border from Lo Wu the day of his disappearance on March 22. That same night, after he called his girlfriend at 9:10 pm, police believe that Bower was lured to the flat by his alleged mistress and then killed, according to police sources cited by Apple Daily. Local media reported that the “mistress” handed herself into police on April 7th.

Hilary Bower

A missing persons report was filed by Bower’s girlfriend on March 30. Hong Kong police were notified of his death by mainland officials earlier this week.

Photo: Weibo screencap.

Bower taught at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Efforts by friends and colleagues to search for him over the past three weeks had been met with a lack of cooperation from local and mainland authorities, according to a university colleague.