China's 'Jack the ripper' executed after murdering 10 women and one girl

A serial killer who raped and murdered 10 women and one girl in northwest China has been executed, state media reported.

Gao Chengyong, 54, was dubbed 'China's Jack the Ripper' for targeting females dressed in red, who he followed home before raping and killing - often by slitting their throats - between 1988 and 2002

He reportedly also mutilated the bodies of his victims, including one girl age eight.

Gao was arrested in 2016. However the grocery store owner was finally undone not by his own crimes, but by those of a family member.

His uncle's DNA was taken over a minor offence -- and turned out to be close enough to the killer's that police suspected he must be related.

Detectives narrowed in on Gao, covertly gathering his DNA to confirm he was the reclusive "Ripper."

Goa ultimately confessed to 11 murders in Gansu province and Inner Mongolia, and was sentenced to death in March last year.

Most of the attacks took place around Baiyin, a city of 1.7 million in northeastern Gansu.

"The suspect has a sexual perversion and hates women," Baiyin police said at the time, according to state media.

"He's reclusive and unsociable, but patient."

Gao's family seemed to have been in the dark about his crimes. His wife wailed and cried when she heard of his arrest, the Beijing News reported.