Pictured: Last CCTV images of murdered Chinese student in the hours before her death

Detectives released the CCTV images of the 25-year-old as they became increasingly desperate for information from the Chinese community.

Miss Zhou and boyfriend Zhen Xing Yang, also 25, suffered multiple injuries and were subjected to a prolonged attack by a killer who was probably known to them.

Xi Zhou, known as Cici, getting on a bus to the home she shared with her boyfriend

Mr Yang had been tortured for at least an hour before being knifed.

Police investigating the double murder in Newcastle were yesterday probing a possible link to a man arrested three miles away on suspicion of aggravated burglary.

Officers were called to a house, where three Chinese students are believed to live, in the Shieldfield district at 2.30am yesterday.

A man, who was not of Asian origin, was arrested at the scene.

Xi Zhou is seen climbing the stairs to the top deck of the bus as she heads home

Xi Zhou pictured towards the end of her shift at Wagamamas

But Detective Superintendent Steve Wade, who is leading the murder hunt, played down the significance of the arrest.

Police also want to trace Mr Yang's best friend Fan Zhang, who is a postgraduate at Newcastle University studying economics, to help build up a picture of the victim's life.

He lives in the city but officers have not managed to speak to him.

'We don't think there is anything sinister in that,' said Mr Wade.

'It would be nice to speak to him, simply to piece together some of the deceased's last movements.'

Police believe Xi Zhou, left, and Zhen Xing Yang may have known their killer

The CCTV images of Miss Zhou - known as Cici - show her leaving a Wagamama restaurant in the city centre on Thursday after she finished a waitressing shift.

She failed to turn up for work on Friday and the two bodies was discovered by a friend on Saturday afternoon.

The body of their pet cat was found hidden in a bowl beneath a bathroom sink and detectives are still trying to find out if that has added significance.

Language difficulties are said to be limiting the inquiry's progress.

Mr Wade said he only recently learned of a website about the murders set up by a Mandarin-speaking student which has received more than 50,000 hits.

He will now also consider a live web-chat with Chinese students using an interpreter.

He had also appealed to the Metropolitan Police for a Mandarin-speaking officer to be seconded to the case.