Two Britons 'dead On Thai Beach'

[Flashermac]

Thai motorbike gang mugged British women night before backpacker couple were murdered on Koh Tao island

 

 

A pair of British girls have been reportedly mugged by a Thai motorbike gang on the identical beach exactly where two backpackers were brutally murdered and just a single evening ahead of the killings took location, it was claimed on Sunday.

 

The females were robbed of their bags, cameras and iPhones by the group of four Thai men, according to James Isaacs, a British tourist and buddy of the victims.

 

The robbery took spot on Koh Tao island's Sairee beach at the exact same spot exactly where islanders located the disfigured bodies of David Miller, a 24-year-old from Jersey, and Hannah Witheridge, a 23-year-old from Good Yarmouth, at around 6am last Monday.

 

It came as a single of Thailand's major newspapers claimed that the investigation into the killing of the couple had been "rushed, rash, incompetent and speculative" and police confirmed they were searching into a feasible altercation in between a Thai man and the murdered couple.

 

Officers have blamed their murders on a gang of at least 3 unidentified "attackers", like two Asian guys.

 

"It could have been them," Mr Isaacs, who is from Bournemouth, said of the thieves, according to the Bangkok Post. "It was actually the same spot."

 

Kissana Phathanacharoen, a police spokesperson who is on Koh Tao, stated he could not right away confirm if police knew of or had been investigating the robbery. From time to time vacationers did not file official police reports, he added.

 

The bodies of Mr Miller and Ms Witheridge were located dumped on Sairee beach prior to dawn final Monday. Practically a week later no arrests have been produced.

 

On Sunday, investigators confirmed for the first time that they had been searching into claims the two victims had been involved in a row with a Thai man said to have harassed Ms Witheridge in a bar shortly before the murders.

 

Mr Miller and Ms Witheridge visited at least two bars in the hours ahead of their murders: an Australian sports pub called Choppers, where they watched a Manchester United game, and a Thai-run nightclub called AC Bar which is recognized for heavy-drinking, punch-ups and its beachside fire-juggling shows.

 

On Friday police raided AC Bar seizing "narcotics" and other substances, according to Thai media reports that police officials have refused to confirm.

 

"Sexual jealously" was now noticed as probably motive for the crime, said Kissana Phathanacharoen. The possible involvement of fishermen who could have swum ashore from their boats to commit the crime was also getting viewed as.

 

Thai police chiefs have rejected claims they "messed up" their response to the murders. Common Somyot Poompanmoung, Thailand's most senior police official, visited Koh Tao on Saturday vowing to do "his finest" to resolve the crime.

 

On the other hand, numerous inquiries have been raised about the police reaction, including why they failed to adequately safe the area around the crime scene. This weekend, tourists continued to sunbathe just yards from where the victims' bodies and 1 of the murder weapons have been identified.

 

The investigation had been "rushed, rash, incompetent and speculative," an editorial in Sunday's Bangkok Post said.

 

Police handling of the incident was "an international scandal and should really be a supply of deep embarrassment," it added. "And it would be, except the egregious lack of professionalism displayed in this case is par for the course for the Thai police force."

 

The newspaper also accused police of leaking insensitive and incorrect data to the media about the attainable identity of the killers.

 

"It need to be horrifying for the victims' mates and households to hear police discussing intimate facts of the crime and speculating on the possibility of rape, reading reports of leaked autopsy details and seeing unnamed sources discuss the blood that later turns out to be dirt, but sadly this is the level of unprofessionalism we have come to count on in Thailand."

 

Police also appeared to be following "prejudices rather than evidence" by targeting Burmese migrant workers more than Thai residents, the newspaper added. "Certainly the announcement that Myanmar migrant workers have been suspects in the Koh Tao murders appeared premature."

 

 

http://www.dailynews...d-h2667323.html

[cavanami]

Let's open the phone book and start picking names to blame...daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...beam me up, no intelligent life here!!!

[Mekong]

Thai motorbike gang mugged British women night before backpacker couple were murdered on Koh Tao island

 

 

Hannah Witheridge, a 23-year-old from Good Yarmouth, at around 6am last Monday.

 

http://www.dailynews...d-h2667323.html

 

:rotl: :rotl:

 

it is actually GREAT Yarmouth but I suppose Good is close enough for an American publication

[Flashermac]

Probably more a result of Microsoft Word's spell checker.

 

This doesn't make much sense either ... "It came as a single of Thailand's major newspapers claimed ..."

[Flashermac]

DNA samples to be sought of all Koh Tao residents

 

 

Police are collecting DNA samples of all people on Koh Tao, an island off Surat Thani province, in a bid to find the murderers of two British tourists.

 

"We are getting closer to solving this case," Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday, "Now, we know for sure that the culprits are Asians."

 

The bodies of the two Britons were found on the island's beach early Monday.

 

Prawit, however, declined to give any specific timeframe for the arrest of the culprits.

 

"We have already dispatched experts from all relevant fields to the crime scene. They are doing their best," he said.

 

The brutal killings of the tourists have made headlines in both local and international media. Evidence suggests that the female victim was sexually violated.

 

The Office of Police Forensic Science chief, Lt-General Kamrop Panyakaew, disclosed that a unit under his office's supervision had been assigned to collect DNA samples of all people on Koh Tao.

 

This move is in addition to the collection of DNA samples from 30 suspects earlier.

 

"We will submit one set of DNA samples and wait for their results before collecting another set of samples. We will do this until we find the culprits," Colonel Chaiyasak Uakrissadathikarn, the deputy chief of the local forensic science unit, said.

 

Provincial Police Region 8 chief Lt-General Panya Mamen has now also ordered police to trace workers on fishing trawlers who had stopped by on Koh Tao on the day of the crime, according to Chumphon police chief Maj-General Suttinat Sudyod.

 

Koh Tao is also near Chumphon province. According to Suttinat, police are looking for possible clues from coastal fishermen's villages and fishing trawlers' crewmen, too.

 

More than 50 marine policemen used speedboats to check fishing trawlers in the area yesterday.

 

Surat Thani Police Station superintendent Colonel Paisal Sangthep admitted that the Bt200,000 bounty had not attracted any tip-off yet.

 

"If you have useful information, please come forward," he said.

 

An informed source said police were in the process of questioning two suspects. One of them is a Thai while the other is a migrant worker.

 

Entrepreneurs on Koh Tao are now being asked to increase lighting and install CCTV to help boost safety on the island.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/DNA-samples-to-be-sought-of-all-Koh-Tao-residents-30243802.html

[Flashermac]

Frenchman 'can ID killers'

 

Molestation ‘witness’ in protective custody

 

 

 

 

Police have placed a French tourist in protective custody after learning he might be able to identify the two men police believe were involved in the murder of two British tourists on Koh Tao in Surat Thani last week.

 

An informed source said the unidentified French national told police he witnessed two Thai man trying to molest Hannah Witheridge, 23, at an entertainment venue.

 

He was also believed to have seen David Miller, 24, rescue Witheridge from the advances of the men before they left the venue together on the night before they were found murdered on the beach early on Sept 15, the same source said.

 

He provided the police with photos of the two men he took on his phone, the source said.

 

A police source said officers had previously questioned the two men in the pictures provided by the Frenchman, but they denied any involvement in the murder and refused to give DNA samples to the police.

 

One of the men looked similar to the footage police compared from the bar's security camera of an Asian-looking man detained near where the murders took place, said the same source.

 

The man in one of the photos looked to be the same height, same build and also had an earring in his left ear which raised the possibility that they were the same person, said the source.

 

One of the men looked similar to the footage police compared from the bar's security camera of an Asian-looking man detained near where the murders took place, said the same source.

 

The man in one of the photos looked to be the same height, same build and also had an earring in his left ear which raised the possibility that they were the same person, said the source.

 

Surat Thani provincial police chief Maj Gen Kiattipong Khaosam-ang previously revealed that the Asian-looking man was seen at about 4am on Sept 15 wearing a pair of shorts walking towards Jor Por Ror cape — the same route Miller and Witheridge had taken before they were found dead.

 

The same man returned about 50 minutes later, moving in a suspicious manner, he said in his previous interviews.

 

Before police took him into protective custody, the Frenchman had posted the photos of the two men on the internet and claimed he had received a death threat which prompted him to contact his relatives in the UK for help, the source said.

 

Maj Gen Kiattipong, meanwhile, said Monday that three workers of a company that provides speedboat services to tourists on Koh Samui had been detained for questioning in connection with the murders.

 

They were identified as Lerpong Suksomboon, 27, Kraiwit Thawisap, 26, and Rattanapong Srisongkhram, 30.

 

Police found a pair of trousers with unknown stains on them that they have sent for DNA testing in Bangkok. DNA samples of the three men were also collected and sent away for tests.

 

The men told the police they were working at the company's office around the time of the murders. Police later verified their statements with security camera footage that showed the men clocking in and out exactly as they said.

 

Mr Kraiwit and Mr Rattanapong were then released while Mr Lerpong was detained on a drugs charge.

 

Deputy police chief Pol Gen Somyot Pumpanmuang revealed that the results of the DNA tests of 30 men on Koh Tao did not match the semen found at the crime scene or the DNA found on some other pieces of evidence.

 

Police were certain that at least two people were involved in the murders of Witheridge and Miller because it has been proven that a hoe and a wooden stick were used in the attack, said Pol Gen Somyot.

 

Police have also secured more pieces of evidence that could potentially help the investigation into the murders but he could not go into detail, he said.

 

The body of Witheridge has already been sent back to Britain, her family said on Sunday.

 

 

http://www.bangkokpo...-can-id-killers

[jitagawn]

Seems like they may have gotten a break.

The French guy is to be commended...and protected.

 

Horrible story.

[My Penis is hungry]

SO they refused to give DNA. and nothing done? Hmmm, who are they connected too?

[checkbin]

Isn't the French geezer actually a Scot?

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/11113268/Terrified-Briton-flees-Thai-island-after-mafia-death-threat.html

[Flashermac]

Nope, he's a Frenchman who contacted "his relatives in the UK for help." The Bangkok Post doesn't make mistakes.