Man convicted of murdering fellow student

A man has been found guilty of murdering a woman after detectives recovered deleted phone messages showing their deteriorating relationship.

Joshua Michals, 26 (08.09.99), a US national, was convicted of murdering 31-year-old Zhe Wang who he had been in a casual relationship with in the months prior to her death.

Despite his attempts to remove all digital evidence from his phone and physical evidence from her address, officers managed to retrieve the data and piece together a timeline of events leading up to her murder.

On Wednesday, 20 March 2024 Michals called 999 saying there had been a serious incident at an address in Manor Park, Hither Green, SE13, but that he was no longer at the property.

Officers attended and found Zhe with two stab wounds to her face. A post-mortem examination would later confirm that there had also been sustained compression of the neck.

Michals was arrested at home the same evening but when interviewed, refused to answer any questions about his relationship with Zhe or what had happened the night she died.

As part of their investigation, officers examined Michals' phone. Detectives recovered his full chat history with Zhe, which revealed the pair had met shortly after starting their studies at Goldsmiths University in the autumn of 2023.

The messages also showed that in the months before her death, Zhe had repeatedly asked Michals to be tested to ensure he had no sexually transmitted diseases.

This was a growing source of tension between the two and resulted in Zhe asking him to come and discuss the issue in person on 20 March. The last message sent by Michals to Zhe simply read ‘here’, sent at 19:17hrs.

Further examination of his phone led officers to his Uber account which showed that just 40 minutes later, he had left the address and returned home – where he waited almost four hours after the incident before calling police at 23:08hrs.

On his arrest, various items of bloodstained clothes were found in his property, which later proved a DNA match to Zhe.

Detective Inspector Claire Guiver, who led the investigation, said: “Michals carried out a brutal and savage attack on Zhe, who was described by her friends as a quiet and gentle woman enjoying her studies in London. Our thoughts continue to remain with her family and friends, both in China and the UK. Our commitment to tackling violence against women and girls is unwavering and we will continue to do everything we can to make London a safer city.

“We are pleased the jury has seen through his claims that he killed Zhe by accident when she tried to attack him with a knife. It is clear that Michals is a dangerous, violent individual and he will now have to live with the consequences of his actions.”