‘I AM NOT GENETICALLY CODED TO UNDERSTAND THE EXPRESSION ‘THIS IS THAILAND’ - SAYS FORMER OFFICER OF U.S. COURT Culture shock - Don't be late with the rent
Thailand’s ruling military government has been asked to investigate complaints by an American teacher with 15 years in law enforcement, who claims she was the subject of what was tantamount to ‘kidnap and coercion’ by Thai police working for a Bangkok businessman.
The teacher, a former member of the Hawaii Judiciary Probation Service, and as such an officer of the court, who also worked for a trauma unit for sexually abused children in New Zealand, said the incident happened in a suburb of Bangkok on August 11th.
She said she was held captive for nearly five hours by four officers called in by the businessman. who threw and air punch at her and repeatedly clenched his fists. before she was allowed to make a call to her Embassy.
Actually she called the 7th Fleet first, she later admitted, but they were out at sea.*
And when she did reach the Embassy she claims that the FBI Special Agent who took the call said: “Mam, if the police are telling you to go to the police department with them, then you'd better go to the police department with them. This is not The Embassy's jurisdiction. You need to contact Thai authorities."
With the Thai authorities being the people who were allegedly ‘kidnapping’ her she reacted angrily.
"You want to put that in writing? I have been held against my will for nearly 5 hours. I think this is called 'kidnapping. I am afraid of what might happen. What do you think they so badly want to hold me for nearly 5 hours? I told you that the landlord tried to assault me. They are using terror tactics."
“At one point, from the Special Agent, I got a, ‘Well, this is Thailand!’. ** “ My response; ‘What is that supposed to mean as if the answer is genetically coded in me.’
“The Thai police commander and my landlord stated to me that ‘things are done differently in Thailand’ and laughed at me when I said they couldn't do this to me”
It was only after she held up the phone to let US officials hear the commotion that a US official stepped in and spoke to the Thai businessmen and senior police officer and informed him neither he nor the police had the right to hold her. The incident happened on August 11.
The woman walked out to the road to catch a taxi but says she was harassed as a senior policeman demanded the taxi driver's mobile phone number so he could find out where she was going.
The woman whose father was a Lt. Colonel in the US Marine Corps, 7th Fleet (Asia Pacific) finally had the matter settled*** on September 12th at a meeting witnessed by two ‘officers' from the US Embassy, (call out fee 7,623 Thai baht)
Amazingly the row was over a 5000 baht ***(disputed) overdue rent bill for a small room in Bang Phli rented to her by the Thai businessman. The woman had gone to work at a University on Thailand’s eastern seaboard and had decided to keep the cheap room (2800 baht a month) on as she was unsure of her new position.
As she suspected might happen the University appeared to have trouble paying her salary on the date expected.
She previously had had an amicable relationship with her landlord, an ardent red-shirt supporter, but sensed a problem when he said he would be keeping her belongings against the unpaid rent, and asked a Thai policeman who she knew in Bang Saen to speak to him to see what the problem was and accompany her back to Bangkok to see the landlord.
"I could easily have transferred cash from the United States if I thought it was going to come to this. But I am trying not to use any of my savings."
The policeman turned up in a taxi and started driving her back to her apartment in Bangkok.
She asked the policeman if he had spoken to her landlord, which he denied, but she actually believed he was speaking to her landlord as they were driving to Bangkok.
On arriving in Bangkok the landlord and three police officers were waiting. They demanded she sign an agreement in Thai, which she said she believed was a document signing over all her belongings…and she refused.
She had refurbished her apartment with new furniture and also had about 20,000 baht’s worth of jewellery there.
She said they demanded she go with them to the police station, but she fled to a nearby hotel owned by a Briton with a Thai wife.
“What happened to me was terrifying--violence on women (particularly foreign females who may have little legal recourse against crime against them in Thailand). The UN, in 2013, reported Thailand as the 5th most dangerous country for women.
“My life has been impacted, alongside my health. This experience pretty much gutted me.
“Had I not been able to get through to the US Embassy for aid, how would that night have ended? What were these males' limits?
Had I not had nearly 15 yrs. experience in law enforcement, and I was the female victim the perps believed me to be--a "rich American" alone in Thailand, and a teacher--what could have become of such a female?
“I turned the tables on these males. I had some skill not to allow them to tear me down, all through these hours, I felt like I was fighting for my life.
“I asked myself--as the hours I was held against my will--ticked away...2 hours, 3, hours, 4 hours, "What was their motivation? What did they have to gain? Why were they so determined?
“I attempted 3 times to leave, but was refused. I was very concerned about my personal safety. Why wouldn't these police, and landlord just let me walk away after so many hours, as the senior officer sat drinking 2 glasses of wine poured by the British owner of hotel.”
The woman was very shocked at her treatment because she had been a successful teacher and had been given the Royal Emblem, the same 7th Cycle pin worn by General Prayuth and former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, for her work teaching Thai children in a monastery school.
The National Council for Peace and Order have confirmed they have received the complaint. But the teacher is aware that the NCPO has been inundated since taking power and other major matters may have to take precedence,
NOTES
* Yes she did call the 7th Fleet but for political reasons it will not be docking in Thailand for some time ** TIT - This is Thailand, a phrase coined by Bernard Trink the former Nite Owl columnist on the Bangkok Post to describe the inexplicable. *** She finally settled at 13,950 Thai baht - She says she paid just to end it all. While she turned the tables - there was a price.
FAWLTEE TAU-ERRS
COMMENT: And the moral of this story....is. Well there is no need to comment. But what I will say is that the reviews and management replies on TripAdvisor for the hotel in question, which I cannot name, must be amongst the funniest I have ever seen. It has to be the 'Fawlty Towers' of Bangkok.
Police in Thailand were today investigating the rapes of a two young tourists and opening murder investigations into two bodies washed ashore – as two weeks on the murder investigation into the brutal killings of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller has still draw a blank.
Two women, one Russian, and one Danish, aged 23, reported being raped by motorcyclists in the Gulf of Thailand resort of Pattaya.
And police were trying to identify the bodies of two westerners found washed up on the shores of Samet island in the Gulf of Thailand and Phuket in the Andaman Sea.
One was of a woman whose hands were bound and the second a man in black shorts found on Samet had serious head injuries. Looking at the injuries police say they suspect murder.
Meanwhile a court in the province of Prachuap Khiri Kan sentenced a railway sleeping berth attendant to execution by lethal injection for raping a 13-year-old school girl and then throwing her to her death from a Bangkok bound express train from the southern city of Nakorn Sri Thammarat. Wanchai Sangkhao, 23, had pleaded guilty murder, rape, for stealing while on public transport, hiding a body and drugs abuse.
n Pattaya a 23-year-old Danish woman is assisting police enquiries in the eastern seaboard of Pattaya who claimed she was raped after hailing what she thought was a motorcycle driver. She claimed he then dragged her into a cassava plantation where he committed the act. And a Russian woman has made the same complaint. She claimed she also hailed what she thought was a motorcycle taxi.
In the case of the alleged rape of the Russian Pattaya Police say they have arrested the suspect and named him as Somdet Srisai, 33.
Police said he confessed to the crime and said he brought the victim to his residence to help her "sober up," but then decided to rape her because "she was beautiful."
A plan by Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul to issue wristbands to identify tourists who ‘get into trouble’, presumably fatally, has been greeted with lukewarm reaction, not least because many people suspect ‘getting into trouble’ means being murdered.
So has a ‘Thai buddy’ scheme calling for volunteers to accompany tourists on their holidays. Currently not many tourists are looking for Thai buddies.
“Clearly they have no concept of the culture which they try to woo into spending their holidays here.” said a foreign poster on country’s biggest foreign internet forum thaivisa.com
WIFE OF SHEFFIELD GANGLAND FIGURE SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR COMMISSIONING MURDER IN THAILAND
The Thai wife of an accused former Sheffield drugs dealer was sentenced to life imprisonment in Thailand today for organising 'hits' on a house-buyer in the royal resort city of Hua Hin.
Janpen Oxley, 38, nicknamed Sarah, the wife of Darren Oxley, who fled to Thailand while on drugs charges in Sheffield with cash to start a property business, had commissioned the attacks on a retired former U.S. Marine Donald Whiting, 70 – who was left crippled for life, paralysed from the neck down.
The hits took place in the Thai resort of Hua Hin, 120 miles south west of Bangkok, where Whiting had bought a retirement home from Darren Oxley’s company, Oxley Homes.
Donald 'Biff' Whiting took took six bullets. Four pierced his lungs and exited, one was removed from his stomach, and one is still embedded in his spine.
At the time Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva demanded a speedy resolution to the case . Shortly after the ‘hit’ Janpen Oxley was arrested on the Cambodian border.
Police traced financial transactions from her to the mother of hit man, Yuthana Areesawat, 40.
Yuthana was also handed a life sentence together with Ek-anand Jitmahima, at Prachuap Khiri Khan Provincial Court. Yuthana’s driver his cousin Samart Areesawat, 41, was acquitted.
Janpen Oxley has remained on bail ever since the incident.
She spent her life with Darren Oxley commuting between the family mansion in Hua Hin and an apartment in Bangkok.
She is expected to appeal and be given bail.
Darren Oxley continues to live the high life in Thailand and holds regular parties for police and civic officials.
In 2001 nine of his associates were jailed for a total of 60 years at Sheffield Crown Court for dealing drugs in clubs like the town's 'Republic'.
In the court it was claimed Oxley was the ringleader of the operation and his crew had "lived in fear" of him. He was described as "violent" and "not a man you mess with" who had made considerable amounts of money.
But Oxley, now 46, who stood in the dock with them, was now nowhere to be seen when it came to sentencing.
He never bothered to hang around.
After skipping bail he settled in the Thai resort of Hua Hin where he built a mansion, bought a Lamborghini, Bentley and Range Rover and married Janpen, known as Sarah, whose brothers were policemen.
A bench warrant issued by the court was never acted on.
“The only person I had a row with was Darren Oxley. He was threatening me. He told me some harm could come to me. I could prove he was cheating me and was due in court the day after the shooting to testify against him.
"Sure his wife is guilty but I am sure she would never have ordered my shooting without her husband's say so. Foreign builders and estate agents have been holding expatriates to ransom in Hua Hin. Many have lost their live savings because of scams.
“How can this Briton Darren Oxley even be allowed to live in Thailand? I have written to the Crown Prosecution Service and police and get nothing from them. The British Embassy will tell me nothing."
Questions put to the South Yorks Police about Oxley’s presence in Thailand drew a ‘No comment’ at the time.
And questions later put under the Freedom of Information Act drew a reply that no comment could be made because the matter was an ‘ongoing operational matter’.
Thailand has a significant community from Sheffield. This man Craig Allen was jailed this year for 20 years. The court heard he ran an international drugs dealing ring from Thailand.
COMMENT: Darren Oxley was never implicated in these hits - only by Donald Whiting and Dolly Samson who knew that they had never had problems with Sarah, but only with Oxley himself. The petrol bombing also coincidentally followed a critical thread on Oxley on a web forum called 'Monsters and Critics' to which Don Whiting had contributed.
The investigation and trial have ruled that 'Sarah' acted totally on her own bat. But many foreigners down in Hua Hin, where another community of dubious Brits have set up some 'nice little earners' are not feeling totally comfortable with the changing face of the community. Many have arrived to get away from Pattaya.
Hua Hin in one of Thailands most peaceful resort cities which also hosts the King of Thailand's summer palace called: 'Far from Worries'. But worryingly for a price just about anybody can live there. Meanwhile Donald Whiting still wants to know why Briton did not extradite Oxley back to face trial and sentencing. It seems if dubious deals are done in Thailand, they are done in the UK too. That's certainly the view of at least one of his cohorts who went down.
Members of the SUN football team closely behind Hannah and friends
Thai police frustrated and humiliated over their failure to find the killers of Britons Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on the island of Koh Tao offered the equivalent of £13,300 to a local taxi driver to be a false witness against a local football team, it was claimed today. When the taxi driver refused they beat him up before releasing today at 6.30 pm, the taxi driver named as Pornprasit Sukdam,37, said.
After the ordeal which began at 1.30, Pornprasit reported the matter to the local district chief Kobchai Saowalak, asking for protection.
. The district chief subsequently went public and issued a statement to police stating: ‘Please do not use violence to find a scapegoat’.
Police had told Pornprasit they wished to re-interview him tomorrow.
Pornprasit told Thai journalists from ASTV-Manager online: “They said they would give me 700,000 baht to be a witness but I was not a witness. I never saw anything. Then they became angry.”
Hannah and friends passing the same spot seconds before
Pornprasit is a member of the Sun Service Football team which were playing on Koh Tao the day before the murder. The theme that the murder could have been committed by a member of the football team was first mooted several days ago. But police reported that they had interviewed and cleared three suspects.”
However Police General Panya Mamen, Head of Regional Police in Southern Thailand, has again speculated that there were three men involved – two who raped Hannah and one who watched. If Pronprasit's claims are true it casts doubt on how much reliance the Thai Police intend to put on DNA testing, or how they are going to use the test results.
He has not yet commented on the latest allegations.
Lt Gen Kamrob Panyakeaw, head of the Police Forensic Institute in Bangkok said at the weekend that all said all the testing was blind.
"We are not in charge of the case investigation part, therefore we don’t get the reports of who the DNA we are testing belongs to."
This leaves total control of the tests in the hands of one unit and takes away normal safeguards against switching.
At the weekend Thai Police promised they would have a result by today. So far their suspects have included Burmese migrant labourers, British friends of David Miller, relatives of powerful local political figures, foreign backpackers, a mad foreign gay boyfriend of Miller, and now the football team has come into the limelight again.
Three members of the team were caught on CCTV walking behind Hannah and friends on the night she was murdered.
Has the impoverished village of Nelson, Lancashire, secretly discovered oil and gas? Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.This could be great for a town which Wikipedia says has some of the lowest house prices in the UK, and which was abandoned by the retailers, Tesco Metro, Ethel Austin, Bonmarche, B & M, Iceland, Poundstretcher, Woolworth's and Argos years ago.
But perhaps this little community of some 30,000, 57.8 per cent white, 40.4 per cent Asia – and living well apart from each other is going to be transformed.
Yes, recently a Porsche was spotted in the town, according to a reader of this site, driven by a local boy who has magically returned from the Orient.
There is excitement in the air. Off Turner Road in the Lomeshaye Business Village a new company was formed on September. Aztec Gas Limited. Looks like there could be cash and jobs for all in a town once called ‘Little Moscow’ because it was renowned for its left wing politics.
But wait the town now has a Conservative MP so it’s back to capitalism and money, money, money.
Perhaps the big stores will come back and move into the Victory Shopping Centre, now occupied by a lone William Hill Bookmakers.
There’s also talk of an exotic ‘ladyboy’ and people ‘eating shit with sugar on’(posh food).
Local rushed to Lomeshaye – But sadly they will be getting none of it. It’s only Alan Hall, the local lad, once a stalwart of the Chiang Mai Expats Club.
Aztec Oil and Gas is his creation. He’s cash rich having been one of the financial advisers who invested clients into the LM Managed Performance Fund and one of the first to crack and run, claiming he had to return home for medical reasons.
COMMENT: PERHAPS IT'S TIME TO GIVE THE THAI POLICE A BREAK! Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The international press has pulled off the Koh Tao murder story now, perplexed, bored, and some downright pee’d off. But despite the repetitive promises of the case being solved and then not being solved, this case actually may be coming to, an Agatha Christie type ending worthy of a Hollywood film. The killers however will have little depth. The barbarity of the killings suggest merely primitive motives. Perhaps too much emphasis has been put on Thai Police who never seem to learn from previous high profile murder, and more about the people in both the shadows and the limelight.
Journalists first arriving on this island, where Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were so brutally hacked and beaten to death, were deliberately led up the garden path with a story which was echoed in almost every bar (passed on by the English speaking Thais).
That story was that David Miller was gay and he had arrived on the island with three gay friends. But on the night of the murder they had met Hannah and her girlfriends – and David went off with Hannah.
David’s gay lover was enraged like a crazy man…end of story.
The story was convenient and put an end to local speculation story but was so preposterous it could have only have been made up by people living on island like the one depicted in the ‘Whicker Man’where everybody sings to the same tune - pon prayote - for the benefit of all.
The only people likely to believe it were rather naïve backpackers, and local people being pushed the local line.
There are of course only two types of expendable people on the island in the view of the local population – the first the 2000 or so Burmese, who are there illegally but for the benefit of all who can stay if they pay a portion of their salary to police reported at about 500 baht a month, the second the foreigners.
This story followed the expected course, first he mad gay hoe-man, then the Burmese, then the foreigners, then the Burmese again, now maybe some Thais.
And then, when it came to the local politicians there was the expected uproar. How dare the police, media, make such allegations. A press conference was held. But the press conference may not have been for so much for the head man to tell the world his relatives were not involved, but to lay down a few rules as well.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.In fact the island may well have been entering the ‘Nemo me impune lacessit’ (Nobody attacks me with impunity) stage at this time.
When the news came that a taxi driver said he had been offered a 700,000 bribe and then been beaten when he did not co-operate, I like other people was disgusted. Having read of what the Thai police had done in previous cases that definetly seemed on the cards.
First run by Manager-ASTV online and then promoted in English by Prachathai however, it did not garner much more local media attention. And in the SUN in London the newspaper used it as a throwaway line at the end of a story.
That may be of course for two reasons; either other Thai media were scared of the police, which on a direct level they are, or they just did not believe it. 700,000 baht the alleged bribe coincidentally happens to be the size of the reward offered and the taxi driver had no wounds to show. Nor did he appear to elaborate on the beatings.
Then the local kamnan declared that police should treat witnesses well and not look for scapegoats; worthy words from another island strong man.
It’s possible police ARE on to something.
The killers have fled. If not from Koh Tao itself it looks increasingly like they are from the Samui Archipelago (that place of dreams and shattered dreams) and neighbouring spots on the mainland near Chumpon.
That local island leaders do not know who it was – is not really an option I have considered. But it certainly was not Colonel Mustard and Professor Plum with the garden hoe.
The Police should maybe cut some slack now; nevertheless Thailand should curb its killers and not put the blame on tourists for being murdered. It seems almost inevitable they will put themselves in a hole again.
Meanwhile this at the Independent is a reasonable point of view
'If I end up with a bullet in my head it wasn't suicide'
New Zealander Tim Ward, Pattaya’s perhaps highest profile tourist is absolutely livid over a visit to his house by Pattaya’s ‘Special Police’. He says after reporting a burglary a gang of them turned up at his house, produced two ‘crack pipes’ and dragged him to the police station with intent to charge him with drugs….or perhaps a shake him down. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Muscular Tim Ward, better known in the resort as ‘Sharkey’, is deceptively confusing. One the one hand, covered in Maori, tattoos he gives interviews on the pros and cons of steroids, and worse he writes about prostitution and that he pays for prostitutes and is not shy about about writing about it on Facebook page.
“I do not know what is wrong with saying I go with prostitutes,” he says. “I am doing what the resort of Pattaya was created for. I have just caught the bus along with everyone else. Its their bus they are asking me to take."
This is of course the wrong thing to say publicly in this city of denial and his remarks about ‘western women’ have also offended.
He has also been called a ‘gangster’, ‘a money lender’ on Australia’s ‘Gold Coast’ where he did in fact make his fortune in clubs and in a money lending business. He does not deny he ‘knows how the street works’. Pictures of him with fast cars seem to almost to lampoon him as a Gold Coast mobster.
On the other hand Tim Ward in many ways is the perfect tourist for Pattaya. He owns his own condo in central Pattaya (where he was robbed) He complies with visa regulations, and being wealthy in his own right he does not bother with border crossings in Cambodia. He flies back to Australia every three months. He is not on a false work permit gaving 'retired' and he does charity work to boot raising money for some less well off Thais.
He does not drink, does not smoke, and does not take drugs, except for steroids and that is not illegal, though importing them is. And he spends a lot of cash. This is his story, which he posted on Facebook. I have edited parts.
“On Saturday the 27th of September 2014 one of my apartments was broken into. The building security phoned the police.. One single uniform officer turned up.. He started doing his job, asking questions and taking notes.. Then around 10 minutes later 7 plain clothes police turned up.
They completely took over.. They started ransacking my apartment, pulling clothes out of draws and making a complete mess. Effectively they were destroying all and any evidence of the original break in.
Then one of the police searching my bedroom mysteriously found 2 used crack pipes.. Here we go.. Welcome to Thailand.
Now not only has my apartment been broken into, I am also under arrest for drug use.. I was taken to Pattaya police station. By this time I was going berserk. Yelling and demanding to have my blood tested for drugs, demanding to have the crack pipes tested for my fingerprints, and demanding to see the search warrant that allowed them to enter my apartment in the first place.
I was really pissed off.... So anyway.. I never did see the crack pipes again.. They disappeared as mysteriously as they first appeared.. I never was given a blood test to check my blood for drug use.. And I never was shown a search warrant that allowed the police to ransack my apartment.. After 2 hours of being held against my will I was free to return home.. The end result.
Well over 1 million Baht of currency and gold gone.. The Thailand mafia police actually warn you about speaking out against them.. F@#k Them.. I have never been intimidated by bullies.. So I want to speak out for the whole world to nothing. If I end up dead with a bullet in my head. It wasn't suicide..
I know the game, and I know the risk of standing up against corruption.. But they picked the wrong guy to pull this shit on.. I will fight them until my money and gold is returned.. Please share this and beware.
I spoke to Sharkey today and he says the ‘crack pipes’ disappeared at the police station after he created a rumpus and a policeman said: “ We think they belong to someone else.”
He said he had been told to leave his apartment untouched as the ‘forensic people’ would return on Monday to take fingerprints. They did not turn up, he said, but anyway it would have been a pointless exercise as all they would find possibly traces of Pattaya Special Police.
"Look just because I am what I am and do what I do, does not mean I should be set up with drugs. That was their mistake. They just did not need to do it," he said.
The trouble of course is that being high profile in Pattaya can sometimes be a road to low profile in a Thai jail.
When I last checked a post by him on his Facebook page had a staggering 15,000 likes so quite clearly Tim has a mighty following. He has a total of 90,000 followers on his Facebook Sharkey and Ward profiles, he says. But what will happen next? He has made a formal complaint and hopes Colonel Supatee, Pattaya’s new police boss, who has been doing some spring cleaning, will listen with sympathy.
The current military government is apparently earning top marks for its housekeeping so far with over 90 per cent of people quizzed giving it a thumbs up in a Dusit poll. But the task ahead is horrendous in its application judging from reports still coming in.
Well here we go again. They are doing their best to spoil my prediction that there might be a logical ‘Agatha Christie’ ending to the Koh Tao murders.
Today the Nation newspaper is reporting that the Koh Parish Council, well you know what I mean but these guys don’t exactly talk about the upkeep of hedgerows, want to impose a fee for tourists visiting the island. It’s not a fee against getting murdered specifically. It’s a fee to pay for safety measures.
They like fees on Koh Tao, where the Nation has already reported that illegal Burmese migrants pay police 500 baht each month and get a card with a picture of an animal. This month it’s a turtle.
If the tourists pay the fee and get murdered will they get their money back?
And what safety measures? Are they going to place their own ‘Thai buddies’ on rocks overlooking foreign young couples holding hands walking along the beach and gazing up at the stars? Or does the money go straight to the killers as in 'Somchai leave off these guys, they've paid up!'
They could save staffing by having the killers man the turn-styles, machetes and hoes dangling from their belts.
The islands got 'Thai Buddies' already. They are the local DJ beach boys who often sit on the beach after the bars have finally closed and seem to be the only ones active on Facebook at 6 am.(On Sept 15)
It seems little thought is going on here – the Prime Minister has vetoed the idea of tourists wearing wrist-bands with their details on it, so the killers can read who they have killed.
The Nation is also reporting that General Panya Mamen has been transferred from his job as Head of Regional 8 (South Thailand) Police and moved to be Assistant National Police Chief. That looks like a promotion, but looks are everything in Thailand. I am not sure how many assistant national police chiefs there are.
That’s a bit unfortunate because he is the one making the predictions that the riddle will be solved this week and is the person authorised to talk to the media.
Thai Police today said that a 21-year old Burmese bar worker has confessed to the murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on the holiday island of Koh Tao.
Burmese suspects share a at about 10.30 pm motorbike behind Sairee Beach, Koh Tao. Win is No 1 sandwiched between his friends - Picture Royal Thai Police
And they said they were holding two other Burmese who they believed to be accomplices. One has denied anything to do with the murders, but reports later said a a second man had now also confessed.
Police sources the statement was consistent with evidence they had already gathered. They moved in as Win had tried to leave Koh Tao last night by the 9 pm ferry after they issued a statement saying they were hot on the trail, the Matichon newspaper reported. He was picked up on arrival at the pier in Surat Thani and taken back. Win is believed to have worked at the 'Safety Stop' restaurant and bar in Koh Tao, and the other two at the AC bat.
Police said they had evidence of an LM Red cigarettes, a packet of which had been purchased at a convenience store earlier in the evening - on which, it is believed, had been found DNA similar to that of the killers. And one of the suspects had died his hair black again, having previously been dyed blond.
The short statement issued by Deputy Police Commissioner General Jakthip Chaijinda this evening identified the alleged killer by the Burmese name ‘Win’, from Rakhine State of Burma (Myanmar) who worked on Koh Tao but had been arrested on the mainland in the provincial capital Surat Thani.
But his alleged accomplices, two Burmese referred to as Maw, 23, and Saw, 21, worked in Kao Tao and were friends of Win, police said.
Police made the announcement before they could confirm a match for the DNA of the two people who raped Hannah, aged 23, from Great Yarmouth.
But a large team of police left Bangkok for Koh Tao today with Police Commissioner General Somyot Phumphanmuang for a full announcement tomorrow.
And they produced video and CCTV pictures showing the three suspects on a motorcycle at about 10.30 in the evening, a suspect buying cigarettes at a 7/11 and what is claimed to be one of the suspects caught running shortly before dawn. But none of the suspects appears to have blond hair on September 15th.
Suspect Win wearing the same T-shirt early on Sept 15 - Unless police did a re-enactment today.
The Nation newspaper quoted sources as saying that Win told the police he ‘saw the foreigners having sex so he made the attack with a plan to rape the woman’.
Saw admitted being on the beach where he played the guitar and smoked a cigarette but he went home and knew nothing about any killing, he said.
The reports are being treated with caution. Police appear to have been anxious to suspect foreigners and Burmese first in two weeks of an investigation notable for hasty and inaccurate statements, and allegations of the beating of suspects including Burmese.
On ThaiVisa.com the biggest foreign forum in Thailand there was widespread belief that the Burmese were being set up. And even in the Thai newspaper Khao Sod (Fresh News) many posters posted using the word 'goat' as in scape goat.
The Burmese who are treated as second class citizens in Thailand have had no access to a lawyer - and people are asking why they did not flee back to Burma, only a few hours away by boat and bus.
But police say they are confident of making the statement about the confession. They say the Burmese workers have been identified among the people caught on CCTV cameras on Sairee Beach, Koh Tao, at the time of the murders.
There was no DNA evidence on Hannah suggesting she had sex with David Miller, 24, from Jersey. But police said they did find a condom nearby.
The early evening announcement came on a day when British Ambassador Mark Kent called on police to offer British police and forensic expertise to the Royal Thai Police.
Two Burmese migrant labourers, who police say have confessed to the brutal murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, were today ordered to take part in a reconstruction of the murder scene – comically one holding a Thai dustpan in place of the murder weapon – a garden hoe.
The two men, known as Win and Saw (or Cho,)whose DNA, police said, matches the sperm DNA taken from Hannah, were taken back to the murder spot on Sairee Beach, to-renact what they did.
They were also asked to put on helmets and flak jackets to protect them from an angry mob. There was no angry mob, but a large crowd mainly of locals applauded and clapped police after their presentation. This they all hoped would bring closure on a case which has driven media attention worldwide as much as for the confusion of the case as the barbarity of the murders.
Amazingly British media were asked to take part in the theatricals. BBC Myanmar correspondent Jonah Fisher refused. He tweeted: ‘Bizarrely asked to be ‘David Miller’ in Thai reconstruction on Koh Tao’. Sky News lady took Hanna role.’
Sky TV's Sarah Yuen then staggeringly walked along the beach with a foreign male posing as Hannah Witheridge and David Miller. This the 'Sun' described as a new low in the investigation.
Pol.Gen. Somyot Pumphanmuang told reports "Tests show that DNA samples of the two Burmese matched the DNA [traces] collected by the police".
Final analysis was concluded at 8 am.
Further they said they had CCTV footage which supported their case and Hannah’s mobile phone was found in the woods near their room. It had been discarded because it did not work, said police.
DNA samples taken from cigarette butts of the same L&M brand, which were found near the crime scene, matched those extracted from semen retrieved from Witheridge. Win was caught on CCTV footage , said police, buying LM Red cigarettes.
The two men it was reported were drinking, playing a guitar, smoking and singing on the beach, prior to the murder of David, 24, from Jersey and the murder and rape of Hannah, 23, from Great Yarmouth.
Win and Saw (Cho) had seen David and Hannah ‘kissing’ and were aroused (Reports yesterday stated that Win had seen the couple making love and was aroused) and they decided to rape the woman.
Its claimed that David Miller was attacked first and beaten then drowned and then Hannah was attacked and raped. Afterwards they hacked her face with the hoe.
A third man who was arrested with Win and Saw has been discounted.
Two years ago Thai Police said they would stop public reconstructions of the crimes using the alleged perpetrators as they had received complaints that they prejudiced trails. But they resumed after a few months.
In today's reconstruction it was evident that police were leading the suspects who were working to their orders.
Pol Lt General Decha Butrnamphech, commissioner of the Provincial Police Region 8, said: “I am very satisfied with the investigation.”
One Burmese, pushed down by officer, to simulate the assault while another attacks with the dustpan 'hoe'
Police said the investigation was conducted methodically and there was no co-ercion.
The Bangkok Post reported: “With the peak tourist season fast approaching, Thai authorities are desperate to draw a line under the incident” adding that it was hoped the reputation of the Thai Police would be restored after severe criticism, mainly from the British media. However even as the crime re-enactment was taking place a spokesman for the Myanmar Migrant Labour Association Aung Kyaw said:
“We do not believe these two men are guilty. We have asked the Myanmar Embassy to call for an independent inquiry and that the DNA testing be verified independently of the Thai police.
“There are things that have happened on that island which need to be answered including the beatings and torture of Burmese.”
Last night however Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-Ocha congratulated the Thai Police on their investigation and said he would be rewarding those taking part.
There were several questions that were puzzling. If they were guilty why did they not flee the island a long time ago. Why would they keep Hannah’s mobile phone when there was a worldwide hue and cry, even if it were thrown away nearby. Would they forget?
And a personal question. Yesterday Win was filmed wearing the same shirt he wore on the night of the alleged murder. It had obviously been washed but why did they not take immediately take it off him and send to forensics? This may be a red herring- These are comments on Thaivisa.com, a herring factory, who claims to be a friend of one of Hannah's travel companions.
But this image by a terrified McAnna is lodged in my mind
The British media are of course being blamed for the criticism of the Thai Police. And it is true that universally in the UK the view is negative. (And if this was the first of such murder/rapes possibly British press criticism might justifiably construed as being 'over the top') Comments by posters on the Daily Mail, currently banned in Thailand, suggest that most people do not believe the Thai police and show that these 're-enactments' though they might work for Thais, are regarded at best comical and bizarre and at worst tasteless and totally uncalled for, and by their theatricality just not credible. The tiny stature of these small Burmese workers against the police ordering them to wai and seek forgiveness, speaks for itself. But criticism is not confined to foreigners in Thailand there too have been many cries of 'scapegoat'.
The mothers of two British murder victims in Thailand have been in contact with this site. They certainly do not believe.
But at the end of the day the only people whose opinion counts are the family and friends of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller.
What the manager of the AC bar told the Thai media
Truth or Fantasy or a slant of an old story doing the rounds - a poster to the Daily Mail writes:
stainless, London
2 years ago on a Thai Island, a western chap was told that the local Thai Family that controlled the island, was going to buy the successful hotel business that he and his Thai wife had built up. He refused and went missing the following day, but was found washed up on a beach, thanks to an unusual change in sea currents. The local Thai police said he had accidently drowned, and arranged to have the body cremated. The western embassy managed to stop this, and had a post-mortem carried out, which found he was beaten to death before he entered the water.
I certainly have not heard of this one but it could be variations of an old story. Its the last line I do not believe.
And from the Justice for Hannah Witheridge and David Miller Facebook Page
Phensri: "I sent some message to Uk Embassy to asked them can accept this way?????????? Why they don't help their people. Why????? What happed in Thailand If, Who have money to be mafia can change the truth????????? Please help to talk and share to help them, Please help Hanna and David. Please help me to find the way the help them. If, they can change the story and finined this way. I can not accept and so sad to can not help them. Please Please Please Please
Three of the out of group of nine Burmese who were friends of the two who now face the death penalty in Thailand for murder of two British backpackers were tortured by Thai police six days ago, it was claimed today.
Praying and begging for forgiveness (Khao Sod) Or is this staged?
As police prepared to showcase their investigation into the barbaric murders of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller,24 and the double rape of Hannah, a statement from the Burmese community on the island claimed that three friends of Win and Saw, the accused, were tortured by Thai police who beat them physically and poured boiling water over them.
They were all playing the game of takroh (kicking a ball made out of bamboo cane) when the game was raided by police last Saturday night. And the two suspects now facing death by lethal injection were innocent, says the Burmese community
Their statement was backed by Aung Kyaw, President of the Myanmar Migrant Labour Association in Thailand who said: ‘We do not believe the suspects did it’ and called for an independent investigation to verify Thai police claims
Early today the statement by the unnamed Burmese was issued to the British and Burmese Embassies in Bangkok. It has been seen by British Ambassador Mark Kent. The statement and photos have also been seen by this site and are in limited circulation. Aung Kyaw has called for an independent investigation and independent monitoring of the DNA.
There is a genuine fear of reprisals among the Burmese on Koh Tao. Police have yet to fully name the two suspects in their custody although they have now paraded them for the media.
The statement, the source of which has been identified to the Ambassadors read:
“On 27th September at 7pm night, nine Rakhine ethnic migrant workers living and working on Koh Tao irregularly (without documents) were accosted by a group of Thai police officers, who tried to catch them when they were peacefully playing cane ball (takroh).
“Six among the nine migrants trying to run away were caught by police. Another three migrants were able to run away from the police to escape from the arrest.
“Three migrants from the six migrants caught were physically beaten and their bodies scolded through pouring over hot boiling water as a means to get information about the three people who had run away from the police arrest. All were then they were released.”
“(Name redacted), an elder of the Rakkhine migrant community Rakkhine who (redacted) recorded three Rakhine victims and their wounds from beating/scolding and sent their photos to Myanmar embassy.
“As soon as he sent to the Myanmar embassy, the Embassy called to Thai police department for the abuse and Thai police replied to Myanmar embassy that they didn't know which group had been beaten and who beat the migrant workers and they said that they will investigate the case.
“According to (name redacted), the three Rakhine victims who were abused were told that the problem will become bigger if the Myanmar embassy were involved in the current case. Also they didn't have any firm evidence so they didn’t wish to report their case to the embassy.
“(name redacted) then met the 3 Rakkhine workers who had ran from police and found that they had no documents so he suggested them to leave from Ko Tao Island as soon as possible if they didn’t have a passport and also no employer. He also reminded them that Thai police were searching to catch them. One of the three immigrants then left the island urgently as they had no documents.
“As for yesterday/today information in the media about arrests, the community then rang us vigorously and said that 3 Rakhine guys were caught by police; two were caught in the jungle, one was in Surat Thani, and all have been accused of murder. The migrant community very upset as they believe the three migrants have been framed for the murders.”
Captives were told to run because they had no papers
"Most Burmese stayed on the island because although they were scared of the Thai police they knew their DNA could not match," said a Burmese migrant contacted by mobile phone. But over the last seven days we have been getting scared because police did not seem to be able to catch anyone."
After the murder of Kirsty Jones, 23, from Brecon, in Chiang Mai in 2000 a Burmese Karen was taken to a private house by Thai police and tortured for a confesson. They demanded he masturbate but when he refused Thai police tried to do it themselves to gather sperm evidence.
Burmese workers were also the first suspects in the rape and murder of Katherine Horton, a Reading University student on Koh Samui six years later. Thai Police say however they are happy they have caught the killers and rapists and have DNA and CCTV evidence to prove it, plus Hannah's mobile phone, which they claim was found on their premises. They also claim to have a witness, but that probably does not mean a witness to the murder. It can be anything from a witness saying they were seen in the 7/11 to a witness seeing them run up and down the street. Andrew Drummond, registered correspondent for the London Evening Standard, has also been providing cover on this case for: ITN News, BBC Regionals, London Broadcasting, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Sun, Mirror, Good Morning Scotland, and BBC Radio Five Live.
The last article on this site “Boiling water and beatings, claim Burmese workers” has been deliberately mistranslated and is currently circulating around Thai media and social networking sites stating that I wrote that the men under arrest had been tortured. This is of course NOT a claim I have made. I have no knowledge of what happened to them while under the care of Thai police, and nobody has made that claim to me. I am curious as to what has happened to the third person who was detained, but that will out in due course.
Misinterpreting is not rare in Thailand. Sometimes it is a genuine mistake. At other times more malicious.
Quite often reports by foreign correspondents are mistranslated by the Thai media and of course the in the last three weeks we have seen numerous locally created false claims, some of which have traveled far, relating to the murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller.
So may I categorically state that the allegations of the beating and scalding of Burmese migrant workers relate to not the current accused but three of their friends, with whom they were playing takroh/takraw on Saturday September 27th.
And to my Thai friends and colleagues please pass it on and correct where necessary.
"Tonight the Burmese community on Koh Tao claimed three close friends of the suspects were beaten and tortured by Thai police to implicate Saw, Wyn and third man Mau. Some were said to have had boiling water poured on them. Community leaders also insisted the suspects were innocent. Their statement was backed by Aung Kyaw, president of the Myanmar Migrant Labour Association in Thailand, who said: “We do not believe they did it.” His statement read: “Ethnic migrant workers living and working on Koh Tao irregularly (without documents) were accosted by a group of Thai police officers who tried to catch them when they were peacefully playing cane ball. Six among the nine migrants accosted trying to run away were caught. “Another three were able to run away and escape arrest. “Three of the six migrants caught were physically beaten and their bodies scalded through pouring over hot boiling water as a means to get information about the three people who had run away from the police arrest.”
Due to an increasing number of serious physical threats and other threats to my freedom, which, I guess, would have to be implemented illegally with co-operation of local police, I plan to leave this country next year, with my three young children, subject to proceedings in hand. The recent murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller have of course assisted in this decision as have moves by the Thai justice system to make it extremely difficult to operate as a foreign correspondent based out of Thailand.
Having the mothers of two victims state 'Nothing as changed has it? Both of whom who regret keeping quiet on advice from Britain's Foreign Office, also spurred me on. We are all upsetting apple cart type people.
This has nothing to do with the current military junta, which appears to me to be trying to do its job, albeit a seemingly opposite one, to make an attempt to eradicate institutionalized corruption.
I have for the last few years been, I hope, doing a public service hoping to protect and warn people about the crooks in our midst.
I know these warnings have helped people avoid traps and when I have called out for help readers here have thankfully contributed and literally saved me from jail for paying bail required in ridiculous libel cases all of which I have one bar one – and in that case I was convicted for allowing a poster to describe an Australian brothel owner (David Hanks) as a pimp, something I had already described him as many times.
It would appear that the only matter which is of any concern in the justice system is cash. In the next ten days I have to find another 150,000 baht cash to pay bail in a case brought by a convicted criminal, Brian alias Goudie, who is even in breach of immigration rules by even being here. (He was jailed for six years in Australia for fraud).
This man arrived in Thailand under the name Goudie printed his own false cards stating that he was a Barrister, also claiming he was a Captain in the Royal Marines, and then set about cheating foreigners, all of whom were in trouble, out of their life savings. He is even stealing their bail money.
Police in Pattaya have notably never taken any cases against him and foreigners, if they have any money left have had to take out private prosecutions against him.
One, who did, got his condo back, part as part of the deal was he had to withdraw his case. That is what happens in private prosecutions.
Goudie is currently in court in Pattaya charged with swindling a 76-year- old lady out of 7.9 million baht. Did the police do anything? Sweet FA. She is home in Madison, Wisconsin, leaving lawyers to squabble over cash, because Goudie will try and buy himself off with property obtained for another person he swindled.
Foreign crooks have caught on to the Thai laws. They know they can cheat and steal other people’s life savings and defy their victims to get their cash back.
And when they take criminal actions themselves the crooks can delay and delay in a dysfunctional court system until the victims no longer have the power to continue (because the thieves have their money) or have to settle at a much reduced claim.
And when they do they are even required to sign ‘secrecy’ clauses. This is why Thailand has become the fraud capital of the world and why in Bangkok it is getting more difficult to find a place that has not been bought from the proceeds of crime.
The inability by Pattaya Police to catch up with a con-man the whole world seems to know about is spectacular in its lack of dimensions.
I am currently being sued for libel and libel under the Computer Crime Act, punishment seven years in jail, by Goudie, for using photo-shopped pictures, amongst others, of Goudie wearing a barrister’s wig and gown, and in the uniform of an officer of the Royal Marines, which clearly he is not – which was the point of the pictures.
I operate my site British registered website under British laws and British lawyers would consider these cases as laughable. So too do I guess does Brian Goudie, as he is a well known international confidence trickster – and the subject of the documentary programme ‘Brian Goldie – Scottish Swindler’.
Do I have faith in Thailand’s justice system? Not one iota. Even though I have won all but one of my cases no awards are made for costs and it takes years to get the money back, if indeed you can, as Goudie frequently boasts.
I do of course have to continue to fight – and am in discussions with people in higher authority – but I need to get through this bail hearing, so if anybody out there can still help, I would appreciate any donations however small. And I apologise having to do this once again.
Due to an increasing number of serious physical threats and other threats to my freedom, which, I guess, would have to be implemented illegally with co-operation of local police, I plan to leave this country next year, with my three young children, subject to proceedings in hand. The recent murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller have of course assisted in this decision as have moves by the Thai justice system to make it extremely difficult to operate as a foreign correspondent based out of Thailand.
Having the mothers of two victims state 'Nothing as changed has it? Both of whom who regret keeping quiet on advice from Britain's Foreign Office, also spurred me on. We are all upsetting apple cart type people.
This has nothing to do with the current military junta, which appears to me to be trying to do its job, albeit a seemingly impossible one, to make an attempt to eradicate institutionalized corruption.
I have for the last few years been, I hope, doing a public service hoping to protect and warn people about the crooks in our midst.
I know these warnings have helped people avoid traps and when I have called out for help readers here have thankfully contributed and literally saved me from jail for paying bail required in ridiculous libel cases all of which I have won bar one – and in that case I was convicted for allowing a poster to describe an Australian brothel owner (David Hanks) as a pimp, something I had already described him as many times.
It would appear that the only matter which is of any concern in the justice system is cash. In the next ten days I have to find another 150,000 baht cash to pay bail in a case brought by a convicted criminal, Brian Goldie alias Goudie, who is in breach of immigration rules by even being here. (He was jailed for six years in Australia for fraud).
This man arrived in Thailand under the name Goudie printed his own false cards stating that he was a Barrister, also claiming he was a Captain in the Royal Marines, and then set about cheating foreigners, all of whom were in trouble, out of their life savings. He is even accused of stealing their bail money.
Police in Pattaya have notably never taken any cases against him and foreigners, if they have any money left, have had to take out private prosecutions against him.
One, who did, got his condo back, part as part of the deal was he had to withdraw his case. That is what happens in private prosecutions.
Goudie is currently in court in Pattaya charged with swindling a 76-year- old lady out of 7.9 million baht. Did the police do anything? Sweet FA. She is home in Madison, Wisconsin, leaving lawyers to squabble over cash, because Goudie will try and buy himself off with property obtained for another person he swindled. Have Pattaya Police done anything about a court damages award to a client which Goudie is accused of pocketing for himself? Sweet FA.
Foreign crooks have caught on to the Thai laws. They know they can cheat and steal other people’s life savings and defy their victims to get their cash back.
And when victims take criminal actions themselves the crooks can delay and delay in a dysfunctional court system until the victims no longer have the power to continue (because the thieves have their money) or have to settle at a much reduced claim.
And when they do they are even required to sign ‘secrecy’ clauses. This is why Thailand has become the fraud capital of the world and why in Bangkok it is getting more difficult to find a place that has not been bought from the proceeds of crime.
The inability by Pattaya Police to catch up with a con-man the whole world seems to know about is spectacular in the lack of dimensions of police.
How many Pattaya Police to investigate a burglary at the home of a rich foreigner? CCTV can catch police too. Here the Pattaya Special Police ' Goon Squad' are lining up to go an investigate a burglary at the apartment of New Zealander Tim Ward, a high rolling if eccentric foreigner. He claims they tried to set him up on drugs charges
I am currently being sued for libel and libel under the Computer Crime Act, punishment seven years in jail, by Goudie, for using photo-shopped pictures, amongst others, of Goudie wearing a barrister’s wig and gown, and in the uniform of an officer of the Royal Marines. He faked that he was a barrister. He faked that he was a lawyer, which was the point of the pictures.
I operate my British registered website under British laws and British lawyers would consider these cases as laughable.
So too I guess does Brian Goudie, as he is a well known international confidence trickster – and the subject of the international documentary programme ‘Brian Goldie – Swindler Scot’.
Do I have faith in Thailand’s justice system? Not one iota.
Even though I have won all but one of my cases no awards are made for costs and it takes years to get the money back, if indeed you can, as Goudie frequently boasts.
I do of course have to continue to fight. As a journalist I have to stick by the rules in a country where few other people do – and am in discussions with people in higher authority – but I need to get through this bail hearing, so if anybody out there can still help, I would appreciate any donations however small. And I apologise having to do this once again.
If this does not succeed then my colleagues in Koh Samui prison could be the two young Burmese from Koh Tao, who look quite safe to share a cell with, and a young Aussie, whose only crime has been to get beaten up by rich kids in a Koh Samui music bar.
As international human rights agencies seeks clarification on a controversial Thai murder investigation, staff at the Myanmar Embassy inBangkok send a team to Koh Samui A Burmese migrant worker ngo also has sent a team to Koh Samui where the suspects are being held. But policechief Police General Somyot Pumpunmuang denies they are scapegoats. And the Surat Thani Governor says the arrests have restored confidence in tourists who are reportedly returning in droves.
But what's the truth about the brutal killings of Britons Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on a Thai paradise island?
JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES.
Some 24 hours after Thai Police closed the file on the killer rapists of Koh Tao the internet is still alive with questions and expressions of disbelief over whether the ‘boys in brown’ as Thai police are often referred to by foreigners in Thailand, have actually got their men. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Flack Jackets and Helmets
It was an impressive show for people impressed by helicopters, link-chains of police volunteers running along the sands, directors with loud-hailers, and two diminutive Burmese in crash helmets and flak jackets bowing in supplication and asking for forgiveness.
But the foreign media, not used to the Thai justice system of 'assumed guilt' - these two young Burmese are guilty until found innocent – found it all a bit of a bizarre pantomime...this final denoument in the hunt for the killers of Britons Hannah Witheridge,23, and David Miller, 24.
The press conference was not so much a press conference – but an announcement. In effect police said 'We have the DNA matches (from sperm and a discarded LM Red cigarette. We have the CCTV footage. We have Hannah’s phone which was discarded.(more of this later) We have the guitar. We have the confessions. And we know one had died his hair black from blond'. (Police say they found blond(e) hairs in Hannah’s hand)
The motive, said police, was that the young Burmese men Win and Saw, who had been smoking on the beach and playing a guitar, saw David Hannah kissing (a previous version was making love) and were driven by uncontrollable desire. As they were new to Thailand having been in the country only two weeks they were not used to such scenes of lasciviousness. It's reported elsewhere that they had been in Thailand for years.
This has been hard to swallow by foreigners shocked at the barbarism of the attacks in the dark on a paradise beach in Thailand. And why would two quite small young men, take on two people of considerably bigger build? These accused did not look like crackheads...it would have been hard to a find a more cherubic looking diminutive duet of killer rapists. But stranger things have happened.
Police duly produced a long handled dustpan (in place of the garden hoe) a guitar, and a Sky News reporter to play Hannah who was filmed walking along the beach arm round the waist of another foreigner and his reaching around hers.
At the same time out came a guitar and journalists wondered in disbelief if one of the ‘perps’ would be asked to strum along with the show... and then at police direction.....he did.
Bizarre it was. Everything was controlled by loudhailers as Win was pushed down by his head to kneel between a Thai officer, legs spread, as Saw simulated beating him with a dustpan.
Everything ended with a round of applause from the locals, all of whom must have had this ‘we wish this thing would go away feeling’, and the scene was rounded off by the setting off of Chinese fire crackers by the tour and guest house operators.
The Police Generals endorsed their satisfaction at the conclusion of the enquiry and wai-ed the foreign press perhaps wishing they were not there and would go soon. There were no questions.
But as Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-Ocha was congratulating police on a job well done a tidal wave of disbelief was flooding the internet.
In short, a simple internet post “What a load of @#&% %^%%& ! ” perhaps best encapsulated the mood as thousands of amateur sleuths turned the police investigation into what they considered a fiasco.
Posts of anger and disbelief choked foreign internet forums in Thailand, newspaper comment sections of British newspapers and the foreigners were joined by presumably off-island Thais in their thousands echoing similar sentiments, and of course Burmese, from all parts of the globe.
No sooner had the loudhailers been switched off on Sairee Beach, Koh Tao, than a group of Burmese announced that three friends of the accused had been beaten and had scalding water poured over them several days before…on September 27th when the original three accused, with whom they were playing takraw fled into the jungle.
This was at the time some media reported that Thai police claimed they were looking for members of the SUN Football Team who had been playing on the island the day before the murders.
The three footballers had been captured on CCTV following Hannah and her group, but maybe not deliberately, on the night of the murder.
By September 27th a whole array of suspects had been paraded in the press with police comments attached to their particular roles.
The initial island story was that a crazed gay foreigner – Miller’s boyfriend – had killed the couple in a frenzy of jealousy. This was the first story told to journalists by backpackers and locals alike.
Then the hunt was on for the who seemed to be the obvious or rather usual suspects in the eyes of the locals, who were the Burmese migrant labourers a couple of thousand of whom were on the island many without documentation, and who appeared also to be a regular source of income to the local police – Anybody without papers is a source of income it seems on Koh Tao according to local reports.
Then came the Ware brothers, Christopher and James, from Jersey, who were on holiday with David Miller. It seems an all-points bulletin was put out for them and they were stopped at Suvarnabhumi airport from boarding their flight and asked to undergo DNA tests. Christopher must have been the 'crazed gay farang'.
It appears that police did not DNA test them earlier out of krengjai (respect)
This was followed by a Thai speed boat man, who dabbled in drugs and was found hanging out and apparently blitzed in a cave in Koh Samui.
No sooner was he off the hook (for the murders not drugs) then next in the frame was Mon the manager of the AC bar who had followed or chased a hapless Scottish busker Sean McAnna from the AC bar after he claimed Mon and another figure (who turned out to be a plain clothed policeman) accused him of being the murderer and told him they were going to ‘hang him in the hills’.
This came as Fleet Street journalists, encamped in the island’s Montra Hotel, had found the police did not have much to say to them, nor did the locals, nor the local foreigners, and so were desperate for someone to talk to.
A real live drama was going on in front of their eyes. A terrified McAnna had snatched a photo of Mon and the policeman from a position cowered behind the counter of a 7/11. ‘The Mafia are trying to kill me’ he Facebooked with the picture.
Mon was of course one of the island’s wheeler dealers and laughed off the remarks of the crazy foreigner and told stories of ‘farang sai mai dee’, bad hearted foreigners.
And all the while journalists are wondering how come this paradise, under-developed (in comparison to neighbours Samui and Ko Phangan only) island appears to be 'drug central' and where the main police activity was not so much crime prevention but collecting fees, according to the Nation newspaper.
Meanwhile the island's DJs were busy on Facebook attacking Sean McAnna. One local motoc cycler hirer and repair man tastelessly put a picture up on the net of himself holding a hoe. Not surprising this provoked a hostile reaction abroad.
This was not helped by the attacks on McAnna who was pictured dressed up as a woman with derisory remarks. The author did not clarify that McAnna was on a local island organised pub crawl which stopped at the Queen's Cabaret - a lady boy club on Koh Tao - and all male tourist are gouded to dress up as 'katoeys' but only the brave at heart, or drunk, did.
But soon Mon's name was linked to his nephew and the brother of the Head Man (puyai baan) a serious mover and shaker, or person of power on Koh Tao. The son had apparently fled the island to Bangkok it was claimed.
General Panya Mamen, Head of Region 8 of the Royal Thai Police, said the son and brother of the head man were under investigation. This was followed the following day by a denial and followed again by an indignant headman holding a press conference to express his hurt feelings – at which he offered 1 million baht (£20,000) to anyone who could prove that any of his relatives were involved.
General Panya Mamen was 'transferred' or 'promoted', the day before the media show.
That million baht was the butt of one foreign hack's joke. "I was told Thai police could set someone up for murder here for a lot less'.
This was all rounded off by the ‘missing’ son facing the press in Bangkok stating he had been at University all along and had CCTV footage and professors who could vouch for him.
**
The headman’s anger and that of Mon, his younger brother, was now directed at crazy McAnna and they suddenly remembered that McAnna had been witnessed wiping blood off his face in the Lotus bar – and sure enough as he left the island his guitar appeared to be stained with dried blood.
This story did not however have any significance to the murders and so on the story back to the roundup of Burmese and each time a series of props which included mobile phones and a bloodstained pair of trousers (which turned out not to be bloodstained) appeared.
Last week police were predicting from Monday that with 48 hours they would have the killer. Then a local taxi driver fled to the bosom of another island leader claiming he had been beaten by police and offered 700,000 baht (about £13,000) to give false testimony against someone else.
The civic leader then issued a statement to the effect that this was a scandalous state of affairs (but put much more mildly Thai style) and that the police should not try and find scapegoats.
Some people were of course now interpreting island feeling as: ‘Leave our people alone and find a scapegoat’. The island's Burmese were now living more in fear than ever. Police did not need their permission to take DNA.
One of the three Burmese arrested was captured at the pier in Surat Thani and the two others were caught on the island and brought in to Sairee Beach. By Thursday night two had ‘confessed’ but the third had merely admitted to playing his guitar and having a beer and smoke on the beach, said police.
However as he was not released again Thai police activity was being viewed with suspicion.
Before DNA samples had been tested the police announced they had their man. And sure enough the DNA was confirmed the following day at 8am – the day of the Big Show.
The bloodstained trousers, a prop which has appeared several times, which turned out to belong to Christopher Ware and were found in Miller bag, were of course not blood-stained and totally irrelevant.
A series of figures caught on CCTV including allegedly Hannah and David were irrelevant and of course not Hannah and David, nor did they ever look like Hannah and David.
CCTV of Win on the night of the murders, who was supposed to be blond at the time, showed him to be black haired at the time..and now there is a controversy about Hannah’s mobile phone which may or not be a red herring.
This phone, 'Hannah's or David's, depending on which police statement taken into account, was allegedly thrown into the jungle near the home of the accused – as it did not work. Police then found it. But a poster on the forum ThaiVisa.com seemed to put the lie to the story that the Burmese had Hannah’s phone and threw it away nearby – because it did not work.
The Burmese could not have had Hannah’s phone, she said, because on the night in question Hannah had given it to a friend to put in her handbag. The day of the murders the Hannah’s phone was handed to police! And The CSI LA Facebook page took up the case.
Hannah's phone apparently being handed in to police
Abigail 1989 wrote last night:
“I just want to clear up what I posted yesterday. I originally said that there was no way that the phone could have been at the suspects’ house because it was at the scene. I jumped to conclusions with that statement. At that point my friend had just told me that she had the phone the next day and I didn't want to ask her too many questions and upset her.
From Phuketwan - but they now say the phone was Miller's
“I've since spoken to her properly and that's when I found out that the phone wasn't at the scene but was in the friend’s handbag. They gave it to the police the following morning along with the passcode. It's perfectly normal to know friends passcodes, especially if you're travelling together and using phones to take pictures etc. “You don't need to believe me, I'm just saying what I know. I am also aware that perhaps the police are referring to the other victim’s phone, in which case my information is useless anyway. “I don't really want to comment publicly on whether they were romantically involved or not”.
But while all this may seem relevant to a foreign audience of amateur sleuths, what police say at press conferences is meaningless not only in the Thai Courts but in the general way of things. Caution and measured statements can give way to storytelling.
Currently there are foreign agencies and international agencies who want to have a closer look at these two defendants if only to allay fears that a terrible injustice has taken place. A team is on the way to Koh Samui.
And the Burmese Embassy is slowly gearing into action
According to Eleven Media:
"The Labour Ministry has been investigating the incident and conveyed a message to the embassy to provide help for the three men.
“We’re now making an investigation into the incident. We asked local residents whether the accusations are correct or not. Some said the Myanmar workers weren’t involved in the murders,” Thein Naing said.
COMMENT
By past experience in high profile 'foreigner' murder cases the Thai formula has always been to deny local involvement in every murder of a foreigner. Blame has been first attributed to a another foreigner, either Bumese or western. People remember the conduct of the cases as much for the investigation as for the horror of the murders.
And of two of the five high profile murder cases known and covered by the author – Kirsty Jones, Vanessa Arscott and Adam Lloyd, Leo del Pinto, and the Koh Tao case, three (Arscott, Lloyd and del Pinto) were murdered by Thai police officers.
UK: Johanne Masheder, from Cheshire, 23, 1996: murdered by a monk in temple grounds in Kanchanaburi. For a while she was just a missing person. During that period a claim was made that her disappearance was just and insurance fraud. Johanne was beaten to death by a novice called Yosak Suaphu - who had previously been in jail
UK: Kirsty Jones, 23, from Devon, 2000: murdered and raped in the Aree Guest house Chiang Mai. Burmese guide tortured. Several foreigners accused. Killer never found. Complete DNA profile done in UK was never matched. Guests at the Aree heard her screams but decided to do nothing as they thought it was a lover's tiff'.
UK: Vanessa Arscott, 23, and Adam Lloyd, 24, 2004: murdered by a policeman in Kanchanaburi. First Adam was shot then Police Sergeant Somchai Wisetsingh ran over Vanessa in his car. He then got out and shot her three times as she hung onto the bases of a pylon carrying electric cables - once in the forehead, once in the face and once in her neck. He got bail until his conviction and none of the eye witnesses would testify against him though fear. Reporters were attacked with pepper spray outside the court by a police colleague. Wisetsinghs father made the false claim that Vanessa was having an affair with his son - and Adam started it it a fit or rage. Wisetsingh claimed it was not him it as an informant of his. Forsensic ruled otherwise. Heavy British Embassy involvement.
UK: Katherine Horton, from Cardiff, 23, 2006: murdered and raped on Lamai Beach, Koh Samui. Two Thai fishermen eventually charged. Stories on Koh Samui related this week now claim these men were scapegoats. May be just knew jerk reaction. The fishermen allegedly went back to their boat where police said they had been drinking and watching pron movies and told colleagues Katherine was 'declicious'.
Canada: Leo Delpinto, 24, from Calgary: Shot dead by Thai policeman. Carly Reisig shot and injured. Local witnesses instructed to say the policeman was acting in self defence. Policeman was given bail, during which time he clubbed his 18-year-old bride to death after two weeks of marriage. The investigation had to be taken out of the hands of Pai Police and taken over by the DSI after Andrew Drummond accompanied the Thai Human Rights Commission on a fact finding mission.
In Britain DNA testing is done at Home Office laboratories and independently from the investigating officers. In Thailand the DNA testing has been done at the Police Forensic Institute in Bangkok.
The head of the team in Bangkok last week publicly pointed out that his officers were not told the identity of the samples they were testing.
It is impossible to say of course that the police have not got the right men. Convincing people they have however is another matter in the wake of history.
The Kirsty Jones case was never solved and the feeling there is because to solve it would be more damaging to Thailand and local interests. It could be all about Face and Image.
But in this case if the DNA does match - and who is able to say otherwise - this will go down as a solved but controversial case. But of course Koh Tao is no paradise.
The appeal for help in raising bail to fight an international confidence trickster Brian Goudie whom a court in Koh Samui, Thailand, has agreed can sue journalist Andrew Drummond for publishing pictures, among others, of Goudie in the attire of a barrister at law and an officer in the Royal Marines has topped £1200 in just over a day.
Supporters, mainly in Thailand, have also sent in some kind letters thanking me for taking on the task of taking on foreign fraudsters, who have come to the country to practice their art, taking advantage of local laws, and acquiescence of the Royal Thai Immigration Police.
For over six months victims in Pattaya have been waiting for police to take action against Brian Goldie who changed his name to Goudie before forming a company called ‘Alba Laws’ and claiming he was a British barrister and an officer in the Royal Marines, to take 50,000 baht a day fees from hapless foreigners.
Formal complaints against him includ pocketing an award given to his clients by a court in Pattaya, posting a pornographic video and images on the internet of a former girlfriend out of spite, and he is currently on trial for posing a barrister to cheat a 76-year-old American woman out of 7.9 million baht.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Brian Goudie, born Brian Gerald James Goldie, on October 3 1967, remains at large of course, and on bail despite technically being in the country illegally (He was sentenced in Australia for six years under the name Goldie) and being a known ‘runner’.
A libel case brought by Goudie against British journalist Andrew Drummond (the author here) relating to a story in the Sunday Mail, Scotland, headlined ‘Devil’s Advocate’ was thrown out by the court in Pattaya.
The story was a comprehensive history of Goudie which included his criminal charges in Australia, his current career as a fake barrister, his rip-offs of prisoners in Nong Plalai jail, and his dubious acquisition of the Jaggy Thistle bar and guest house in the Jomtien Complex, Pattaya, from former Ulster drugs trafficker Jimmy ‘Doc’ Halliday.
Despite the terrific response the fund is still less than half the target figure – any further help would be appreciated.
Workers’ rights activist is asking the office of the National Broadcasting Telecommunications Commission to adjudicate his complaints over a three part ‘investigation’ by Thai Channel 3 television into his role in the ‘Natural Fruit’ controversy.
The series widely regarded as a ‘stitch up’ in the foreign community suggested Hall, from Spalding, Lincs,paid the workers to make false allegations against “Natural Fruit’ and that Andy Hall has falsely claimed to be attached to a University, which he was not.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The series was titled ‘The Trafficking Research Which Damaged Thailand’ and was used by the prosecution in the first of several criminal and civil cases being brought against Hall by Natural Fruit who are seeking US$100 million in damages.
‘Natural Fruit’ has been widely criticized by workers associations, labour unions, ngos and foreign fruit importers over its actions against Hall.
The Finnwatch report attacked Natural Fruit which has a factory in Prachuap over its treatment of Burmese migrant labour.
A statement issued by him today says: “Andy Hall strongly objects to the factual errors and negative insinuations about his character as portrayed in the programme, aired from 29-31 July 2014, and requests an independent investigation of the ethics and legality of conduct of all those concerned in the filming and airing of this programme on Channel 3 by the NBTC.”
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Channel 3 has a reputation among foreigners for being somewhat prejudiced against guests in the country, and critical journalists especially.
In a controversy created by the series 'Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand' Channel 3 managed to completely turn around a story about a jet ski scammer in Phuket called JJ who was demanding damages cash from a group of Royal Marines.
JJ became a hero while the production company were criticised for manipulating the sound over an incident when JJ brought out a gun.
The Thai National Commission for Human Rights has provided a hotline and an email for any witnesses who feel they can shed new light on the murders of Britons David Miller and Hannah Witheridge on the island of Koh Tao. But almost simultaneously Deputy Police Commissioner-General Pol Col Somyos Pumphanmuang was warned that people who share false information could be charged with insulting officials.
The Deputy Commissioner said the investigation was transparent and he was totally satisfied that no wrongful arrests have been made. But the net has been flooded by allegations that police, who have arrested two Burmese migrant workers, named as Win and Saw, have merely found scapegoats.
Meanwhile police say that the reason a third Burmese migrant workers who was also detained has not been released as he is under protective custody as a witness. The man known as Maw originally said he was sitting on the beach smoking and playing the guitar together with the two other men, and then went home. He saw no incident.
Police have also interviewed three Burmese migrant workers who claimed that had boiling water poured over them.
They are reported to have been treated well with police offering medical assistance - although this has yet to be confirmed.
No decision has been made whether the three will press charges.
The men were in a group of nine Burmese nationals playing takraw which included Maw, Win and Saw.
They all attempted to flee but six were caught and detained.
The National Commission for Human Rights has said that information given will be treated in confidence and informants need not have any fears.
The two young Burmese have now been visited by Consular officials from the Myanmar Embassy and are due a visit from the Myanmar Migrant Workers Group (Tuesday)
Police say that as they have DNA matches to the killers there can be no doubt about the case. It appears that not only did the suspects give DNA after they were taken into custody, but also earlier in the police investigation.
The Human Right Commission contacts are as follows and should go directly to Dr. Niran, the Commissioner himself. 0818767099 Penpun_i@yahoo.com
This PBS, report with a reporter doing a stand up from the tennis court where nine men including the two defendents were playing football on September 27 (three later said they were tortured by having scalding water over them) also shows Miller, apparently unbroken Iphone 4.
Police in India have arrested the alleged man wanted for the murder of a wealthy American socialite in Bangkok two years ago. Ritesh Sanghvi, 28, was arrested under warrant issued by the Special Extradition Court in Delhi. Its alleged stabbed Wendy Albano, 52, from South Tampa, Florida to death.
Twice married Wendy Albano was found murdered in a room of hotel Fraser Suites Sukhumvit in Bangkok on February 13, 2012. She was stabbed in the neck and stomach.
Both had checked into the hotel together on February 9th. It’s believed their relationship started on Facebook and developed also into a business relationship. They were setting up an import business together in conjunction her design house in Florida.
Albano had visited Mumbai twice to meet Ritesh and its believed they came together to Bangkok. According to Thai Police Ritesh was captured on CCTV entering the room with Wendy Albano and leaving an hour later with a suitcase.
He fled back to India after which his father filed a missing persons report stating he had gone missing on February 8th.
Indian Police found Ritesh was residing in Gangakhed city in Maharashtra. He has grown a beard, changed his name to by changing his name to Rananjay and was running a mobile phone shop.
Albano designed the multi-million dollar residence of American New York Yankees baseball player Derek Jeter.
As a result of publicity in the case the U.S. ratified extradition proceedings with India.
Two Burmese men accused of the barbaric killings of David Hannah and Hannah Witheridge on the Thai island of Koh Tao – have admitted to lawyers they did commit the crimes. In interviews yeterday and today in Koh Samui prison the men ow identified as Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin confessed to lawyer working for the Burmese Embassy and also an ngo. Embassy retained lawyer Aung Myo said that the men from Kyaukphyu in Arakan State confessed to the crimes but told the legal team they had been tortured.
“Lawyer Aung Myo Thant said the pair, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both 21, from the Arakanese town of Kyaukphyu, told a Burmese embassy legal team they had murdered English tourists Hannah Witheridge and David Miller by bludgeoning them to death with a hoe on 15 September. However, he said, their stories were ‘somewhat inconsistent’ and ‘their faces portrayed fear’.(DVB)
“From what we have learned, there are inconsistencies with both the forensic report and evidence provided in the case,” Aung Myo Thant DVB is reporting.
“The defendants kept repeating that they were very drunk that night. Based on what we have been told, it seems to us like this case is a set-up and not based on hard facts.”
Irrawadday online further quoted Aung Myo Thant as saying:
" Win Zaw Htun was assaulted and threatened after refusing to confess to the murders during a police interrogation.
“He didn’t confess when he was in the investigation center. A police officer hit the side of his face and the interpreter also hit him four times. Then police threatened to electrocute them [the suspects] and said that no worse thing would happen to them if they confessed. So, they finally confessed as they saw no hope.”
Nut Kyaw Thaung, a representative of the Myanmar Association in Thailand, who attended the interview with the defendants, said:
“They said they bashed the victims two or three times each with the blunt end of a hoe, but not with the sharp end. They said they did it because they were drunk but did not intend to murder the couple.”
Burmese Embassy officials were declined access to a third Burmese Maung Maung, who was being detained by police as a witness. Maung Maung was being kept in a hotel, said Thai police.
Irrawaddy further reported: "The mother of three Burmese migrant workers who alleged that Thai police poured hot water over them during questioning said she would not let her children speak to the media out of fear for their safety. She said that after the allegation surfaced in the media, Thai police came to warn her children that they would be in trouble if they spoke to the media again".
But Irrawaddy does not report that the two Burmese confessed on the contrary Zaw Lin did not wish to talk at all and Win Zaw Htun appeared very guarded. Both looked very worried.
The Thai National Human Rights Commission has reported on PBS that the two Burmese said they were 'tortuted' and lawyers for Myanmar Migrant Workers/ Cross Cultural Federation are reporting similar claims.
But police in Bangkok have emphatically denied they tortued the two defendants and insisted that a lawyer and translator was present during the interviews - (more to come) 'We conducted the investigation with honesty'.
Police Chief Somyot Pumpunmuang congratulated his officers. They had done, he said, 'a perfect job'.
British Ambassador Mark Kent who was reported to have been scheduled to attend, did not do so. He has made it clear that he has not commented on the Thai police investigation.
It is customary for the Ambassador to thank the police after a successful operation involving British subjects.
Due to Thai police's unprofessionalism and history of forced confessions, an impartial review of the Koh Tao murder case is needed to ensure justice. Last week, Thai police arrested two Burmese men and accused them of murdering two British tourists on Koh Tao island on 15 September. According to police, not only did the two men confess, but their DNA samples matched DNA traces found on one of the victim’s bodies. The two men, named Saw and Win, are facing charges that could be punished with the death penalty.
Thai police have been under an immense amount of pressure to arrest a suspect behind the murder, with authorities and local residents concerned that the incident could damage Thailand’s already-ailing tourist industry. There has also been societal pressure for Thailand to avoid “losing face” over the barbaric murder, which has perhaps prompted police to point the finger at non-Thais from the start. So far, the police investigation has been disturbingly unprofessional: the crime scene was not properly sealed off in the wake of the murder, police have made blunders as embarrassing as misidentifying the victims in photos distributed to the press, and a series of confusing and contradictory public statements have left many questions about basic details of the case unanswered. There are also legitimate concerns that the alleged confessions of the two Burmese suspects were obtained under duress. Thai police have a history of using physical abuse to extract false confessions that are later retracted, and there was no lawyer present during Saw and Win’s interrogation. Last week, two other Burmese migrant workers on the island said they were beaten by police when they did not confess to the murder.
Given the extremely high stakes of this criminal case – Saw and Win’s lives are on the line – we believe it is necessary for Thailand to go to great lengths to confirm the guilt of these two men.
Currently, the key evidence in the case are the DNA traces found on Hannah Witheridge, who is believed to have been raped by two men prior to her death. Police have insisted that the DNA samples collected from Saw and Win matched the semen found in Witheridge's body. However, while it is unclear when Saw and Win's DNA samples were taken, their “matching” results were announced less than 24 hours after their arrest. It typically takes 48-72 hours for authorities in other countries to process DNA results. Therefore, we believe it is necessary for an independent body to investigate the forensic evidence that has allegedly implicated the two men. The investigation should be carried out by a foreign authority that has accredited technological facilities to verify the DNA results. The independent inquiry should (1) confirm that none of the DNA samples have been tampered with, and (2) evaluate the alleged match between the two suspects and the DNA traces acquired from Witheridge's body. If these conditions are not met, we fear that Thai police will add to their legacy of falsely accusing innocent people. In 1986, for example, four men were falsely convicted and imprisoned for the murder of Thai-American teenage girl Sherry Ann Duncan.
Although the Supreme Court acquitted the defendants six years later, one defendant had already died behind bars and another died several years later from a disease he contracted in prison. In 2000, Thai police kidnapped and physically abused an ethnic Karen in an effort to extract a confession for the rape and murder of 23-year-old British tourist Kirsty Jones. We believe an impartial review of the forensic evidence in the Koh Tao case is needed to ensure a fair trial for Saw and Win, who have already been wrongly denied legal representation. Allowing an independent inquiry would also provide Thai police, who have vehemently dismissed the scapegoat allegations, the opportunity to satisfy critics and prove their competence.
A police press conference today should have cleared the matter. What police were saying should have ended all speculation. They had, they said, got the two culprits 'bang to rights' to use an English expression. They had DNA evidence, (two sources) and a multitude of other things and weaved a seemingly overwhelmingly strong case against Win and Saw. The BBC's Jonathan Head tweeted that Deputy Police Chief Somyot was 'visibly frustrated' at the social media. This had delayed the investigation and had police chasing alleged local mafia. Remember police have stated there are 'no mafia' on Koh Tao. Taking attention away from the press conference were the meetings between the Burmese suspects and lawyers in Koh Samui. They come with more allegations of abuse and not very convincing confessions - or confessions which at least that suggest another person or other people were present. A full inquest will be held on Hannah Witheridge in Norwich on January 6th.
But is it over? No. Despite the confessions it seems a wide crosss section of Thai society still does not believe. Burmese - absolutely not.
It seems now lawyers for the defendants may ask the British Embassy if they can supply their own test of DNA from post mortems carried out in the United Kingdom. Whether the Embassy can or will do this and whether the UK has got a clear DNA profile of the killer is not publicly known. The Thai police may indeed have got their men. But so many incidents in the past seem to have come home to roost in a country where things are not always how they seem. The Khao Sod refers to Kirty Jones and Sherry Ann Duncan but who can forget the murders of Vanessa Arscott and her boyfriend Adam Lloyd gunned down execution style by a policeman in Kanchanaburi - and the initial attempted cover-up. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Or indeed the shenanigans when Katherine Horton was beaten to death, allegedly by fishermen on Koh Samui. All of these women were aged 23-24, from happy and good families, university educated and murdered in Thailand. Thailand can attempt to save face on this - but at the end of the day these people were murdered in Thailand - not Myanmar.
'Being able to believe the police force is an essential ingredient of a civilised society'. - John Oliver
