Tourists killed near death bridge

[think_too_mut]

Tourists killed near death bridge

From correspondents in Bangkok

September 9, 2004

 

TWO Britons were shot dead today by unknown gunmen near the famous Bridge over the River Kwai in western Thailand, police said.

 

A 24-year-old woman and her travelling partner, a man aged 25, were shot and fatally wounded after returning from drinks in the normally peaceful tourist town of Kanchanaburi. They were pronounced dead in hospital, police said.

 

Officers said they heard shots at 3:50am (0550 AEST) and rushed to the scene where they found the two tourists, whom they named as Adam Lloyd, from Northampton, and Vanessa Arscott, of Torquay.

 

Officers said they did not believe robbery was the motive as the pair had all their belongings with them.

 

"We suspect that they were shot after a quarrel and as of now we have no idea whether the gunmen were Thais or foreigners," Major Chavalit Piakeaw, who was heading the investigation, said.

 

A French tourist was shot last year in the town by a robber on a motorbike as he walked to his guest house with friends.

 

The killings came after Thailand embarked on a major promotion of its tourist industry and is seeking to double the number of arrivals to 20 million by 2008.

 

Kanchanaburi has been a growing destination for foreign tourists lured by the fame of the notorious bridge near the border with Burma, war cemeteries in the town and beautiful waterfalls.

 

An estimated 16,000 Allied prisoners of war died during the construction of the railway during World War II. It was designed as a crucial link between Japan's new territories of Singapore and Burma.

 

Agence France-Presse

[MrX]

While on the subject of mortality at the death bridge might be worth sgnaling how easy it would be to add to the fatalities by falling off the bloody thing which was largely unfenced ( at least up until a few months ago).....

[Guest]

I don't think the gunman is 'unknown' anymore. It was a police officer, a senior sergeant. Possibly in the Tourist Police(???)

Now we understand what they mean by Tourist Police. ::

[whosyourdaddy]

what is your source for this information. Seems very serious if that is the case.

[elef]

UK couple shot dead in Thailand

 

 

Vanessa Arscott was killed moments after her boyfriend, Adam Lloyd

A British couple have been shot dead near the scene of the original Bridge on the river Kwai in Thailand.

Adam Lloyd, 25, and Vanessa Arscott, 24, were killed on a night out near Kanchanaburi, 80 miles west of Bangkok, in the early hours of Thursday.

 

Ms Arscott was from Ashburton, Devon, and Mr Lloyd was from Northampton.

 

Police said an arrest warrant had been issued for their main suspect, police Sergeant Somchai Visetsingha, who had been missing since the shooting.

 

 

Policeman suspect

 

Reports say Ms Arscott was knocked down by a car and dragged for 20 yards after trying to stop the gunman who had shot her boyfriend dead.

 

She was shot dead too.

 

The couple were taken to Phahol Polpayuhasena hospital but died on the way there.

 

The couple are believed to have met their killer earlier in a riverside restaurant when he got involved in an argument which began when Mr Lloyd became upset at the way other customers were looking at his girlfriend.

 

He and Vanessa had been travelling together for two months. It was something he always wanted to do

 

Linda Lloyd, Adam's mother

 

Police Colonel Vej Somboon said bloodstains had been found in the private car belonging to off-duty police Sgt Somchai.

 

He said witnesses saw the victims arguing with Sgt Somchai at the restaurant at around 2am.

 

He added that Sgt Somchai has been missing since the shooting and they hoped to catch him soon.

 

"The witnesses and evidence show that he is the man who gunned down the British tourists," he said.

 

'Lovely lad'

 

Mr Lloyd's mother Linda described her son as a "lovely lad".

 

She said: "He and Vanessa had been travelling together for two months. It was something he always wanted to do."

 

Mrs Lloyd, who runs the Buckingham Lodge Hotel in Torquay, Devon, with her husband Brian, said her son had been due to catch a flight home last week but couldn't get a flight.

 

Vanessa Arscott's grandmother Eileen Arscott, from Kingsteignton, south Devon, said: "I'm very distressed, the whole family is very upset."

 

She said her grand-daughter, who was studying health and fitness at college, used to stay with her at weekends.

 

Mrs Arscott said: "We were very close.

 

"She was due back this weekend. I cannot believe this has happened."

 

Ms Arscott's parents, who live on the edge of Dartmoor were too upset to comment.

 

 

 

Violent crime against foreign tourists is rare in Thailand, which lures 10 million visitors a year to its pristine beaches, temples and vibrant nightlife.

 

Thousands of tourists, many of them World War II veterans, also flock each year to Kanchanaburi, site of the notorious Thailand-Burma "death railway" and a Commonwealth war cemetery.

 

The bridge over the river was built by Allied prisoners of Japanese forces and immortalised in the 1957 film Bridge on the River Kwai starring Alec Guinness.

 

It was bombed during the war by Allied planes trying to disrupt Japanese supply lines.

 

BBC

[Lusty]

Its splashed all over the front of todays papers here in the UK.What will the authorities do about this negative press?

[carew66]

Lusty said:

What will the authorities do about this negative press?

 

Nothing. I've read of two similar incidents - involving both pissed up cops and a soldier - recently in the Post.

[elef]

Hunt for police officer 'who shot UK couple'

 

Published on Sep 10, 2004

 

 

KANCHANABURI - An arrest warrant has been issued for a policeman who is the prime suspect in the killings of two British tourists early yesterday morning.

 

Senior Sgt-Major Somchai Wisetsing, a 39-year-old unit head at Muang Kanchanaburi police station, was named the chief suspect in the deaths of Adam Geoffrey Lloyd, 25, and Vanessa Claire Arscott, 24, who were gunned down in the streets of Kanchanaburi.

 

Police were hunting for the suspect after bloodstains were found in his car, Kanchanaburi police chief Maj-General Chaichan Kitichan told The Nation yesterday.

 

According to witnesses, the British couple drank with a Thai man in a food shop on Maenam Kwae Road.

 

The neighbourhood, which is close to the famed River Kwai Bridge and Death Railway, is popular among backpackers.

 

Somchai runs the food shop.

 

The couple later quarrelled and the woman ran out of the shop crying. Both men then followed in a blue car driven by the Thai man.

 

Lloyd left the car and assaulted Arscott, police quoted witnesses as saying. Lloyd was also seen attacking the Thai man before walking away with the woman, they said.

 

The Thai man then drove the car after the couple. Shortly afterwards, shots were heard and Lloyd fell to the ground. A startled Arscott was then hit by the car and dragged along the road for about 150 metres. The driver then left the car and fired a number of shots at the woman.

 

The assailant fled the scene in his vehicle.

 

Lloyd and Arscott were rushed to hospital but were pronounced dead shortly after being admitted.

 

Two gunshot wounds were found in the man's abdomen and left temple. The woman was shot in the chest, neck and left arm.

 

Yesterday afternoon, police searched Somchai's home in Muang district and discovered fresh bloodstains in his blue Volvo.

 

The suspect was not home and police met his 61-year-old father at the premises.

 

An inspection of the crime scene discovered one .38-calibre bullet embedded in the ground, police said.

 

Due to Somchai's alleged involvement with a serious crime, his supervisors yesterday suspended him from duty, said Lt-General Ukrit Patchimsawat, the commissioner of Police Region 7, which covers Kanchanaburi.

 

Ukrit inspected the crime scene in the afternoon along with other senior police officers and two officials from the British Embassy in Bangkok.

 

The embassy officials were briefed about the incident before inspecting the scene.

 

Caretaker Kanchanaburi governor Toedsak Kannasut expressed his regret over the incident. He also extended his condolences to the embassy officials.

 

Sorawut Jongsakul, Jaturaporn Suk-in

 

The Nation

[soongmak]

Here's another article in the infamous Sun, it has some pictures: http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004421199,00.html

 

In the article it is suggested that the cop wanted to abduct the girl.

 

 

[ultras67]

reading the ongoing story over the last day it was quite interesting various versions came out

 

the couple stayed at the guys house for a few days

they had no money and he was selling his girlfriend then changed his mind

the policeman tried to abduct the girl

the policeman tried to defuse an arguement then got involved

 

etc etc

 

"Capt Chavalit Biewkaow, the case officer, said: "This is not a good matter for Thailand. Somchai was a mild man and good officer." " I am sure that is a huge relief to the couple.

The Telegraph

 

basically, it all now seems to point to the policeman. As to what happened, I dont know. It only goes to prove that this is a fucked up world where you can meet a fucked up man anywhere and be killed.