POLICE IN THE PHILIPPINES have arrested a suspected serial killer after identifying him through his Facebook account, the BBC reports.

Mark Dizon is suspected of murdering nine people, including an American, a Briton and a Canadian, this month. He was arrested in San Fernando, in the north of the country, but has not yet been charged.

A gunman was seeing fleeing the scene of 70-year-old American Albert Mitchell’s murder. Mitchell was killed along with his wife and three staff members inside the couple’s home last week. A description of the gunman was given to the police.

A family friend of the Mitchells recognised Dizon as a Facebook friend of the murdered couple’s daughter after hearing the police description.

Police said Dizon closed his Facebook account after sensing police were on his trail. The suspect allegedly befriended the victims and gained access to their homes on the pretence of fixing their computers.

Meanwhile, the family of one of the victims of the alleged serial killer has launched a Facebook campaign to raise the money to pay for his body to be returned to the UK. James Bolton, 51, from Lincoln in England was killed on 16 July. His family are trying to raise £10,000 to repatriate his body for burial.