Amid sex photos scandal, Hong Kong pop star gets bullet in post

Hong Kong, March 12 (DPA) A bullet and a warning letter aimed at the Hong Kong pop star at the centre of a sex photos scandal has been sent in the post from the US to a local TV station, the police said Thursday.

The letter, written in English, warned singer-actor Edison Chen to disappear from public life and said it was a final warning to him to take his personal safety seriously.

Chen, 28, was embroiled in a scandal last year when photographs of him romping naked with a number of young starlets were circulated over the Internet.

The explicit photographs were apparently downloaded from his laptop when he took it in for repairs, and a number of people were arrested for allegedly stealing and distributing the images.

The anonymous letter containing a bullet arrived at Hong Kong's Cable TV network from the US Wednesday afternoon, said the police, who took away the bullet and letter for examination.

Chen stayed out of the public eye after the scandal broke in February last year, but appeared in court in Vancouver last month to testify in the trial of a computer technician accused over the photo scandal.

The singer-actor has said he will not return to Hong Kong for the court proceedings because he fears for his personal safety and will testify only by video-link.

Victims of the photo scandal, including pop singer Cecilia Cheung, have in recent weeks given TV interviews hitting out at Chen, accusing him of lying and failing to apologise for his actions.

Millions of people viewed the photographs after they were uploaded onto websites at the end of January 2008, causing massive embarrassment and ending the careers of some of the starlets involved.

The women featured in the photos were mostly so-called Canto-pop stars, making their names with sickly-sweet pop songs sung in Cantonese that are hugely popular in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.