A British investment banker has appeared in a Hong Kong court to hear two charges of murder against him, in a grisly case that has gripped one of the world’s most important financial centres renowned for its low crime rate.

Rurik Jutting, a 29-year-old former equities trader at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday at his apartment in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong.

The body of a young woman was found on the floor of his bloodstained flat, where a knife was recovered by police. Hours later, police discovered a second body. Both women were reported to be sex workers, one of them of Indonesian origin, according to local media. One of the women has since been identified as 25-year-old Sumarti Ningsih, who police say was killed on October 27. The identity of the other woman has not been revealed.