Xiong Zhenlin was arrested on Jan. 11, 2009.

A man who was convicted of killing eight people including a two-year-old boy was sentenced to death Monday in central China's Hubei Province.

The Intermediate People's Court of Suizhou also deprived Xiong Zhenlin, 35, of political rights for life.

Xiong, a junk collector, killed eight people in Luoyang Town, Suizhou, on Jan. 4 and was arrested a week later.

The victims include five employees of Xiong's junkyard, a local resident who came to sell waste goods and noticed blood stains in the junkyard, a 43-year-old woman named Zhu Deqing whom Xiong hoped to marry and Zhu's grandson, according to the prosecution.

Xiong did not say whether he would appeal.

"Xiong committed the killing out of mean and abominable motives. The way in which he perpetrated his crime was cruel beyond measure," the prosecution said.

The murderer, who divorced last September, decided to revenge himself on society after his hopes to remarry his ex-wife or Zhu were turned down, the prosecution said.

He hacked two men to death with an axe at around 7 a.m. on Jan. 4 to "boost courage" for more killings. One of the victims was a deaf mute who worked at his junkyard,

Then he lured two employees to his junkyard and killed them. One employee was a man who allegedly embezzled some money from junk dealings. The other employee was a woman who arranged dates for his ex-wife.

The killing spree escalated when Xiong murdered a woman who came to cook for him and a local resident who noticed blood stains in the junkyard.

He went to Zhu Deqing's home at night and killed her and her grandson after a quarrel.