Kiwi speaks about the murder

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Kiwi tells of Thailand resort murder

06 January 2006

By CHALPAT SONTI

 

A New Zealander has been caught up in the events surrounding the brutal murder of a British backpacker in Thailand.

 

Waikato-born marine engineer Ritchy Haskell, 22, who lives in Surfers Paradise, was one of the last people to see Katherine Horton alive, moments before she was murdered at the tourist resort of Lamai beach on the island of Koh Samui.

 

Miss Horton, 21, was sitting with Mr Haskell, his Australian friend Ben Greig, and her own friend Ruth Adams when she answered a cellphone call from her mother on New Year's Day. She walked off along the beach and was heard by her mother to scream before the phone went dead. Her body was found in the sea the next day. She had been beaten and left to drown.

 

Mr Haskell told The Dominion Post last night that it was the culmination of a terrible 24 hours. He had gone to another Thai island to celebrate the New Year, only to have his drink spiked before being robbed of his wallet containing all his money and credit cards. A British man he met on the island gave him some money so he could rejoin Mr Greig on Koh Samui.

 

He had met Miss Horton and Miss Adams earlier, though had said little to either. When Miss Horton did not return from her phone call, the trio briefly looked for her before the men decided to head into town. Miss Adams was to rejoin them when she found Miss Horton. "But we didn't hear anything. The next day we went to the beach and it was packed with police."

 

That began a four-day ordeal for the pair. They were strip-searched, interviewed several times and gave dna samples. At one point yesterday morning they were told they could leave the island to rejoin Mr Haskell's father, Owen, in Bangkok before flying home.

 

"We got on a bus and were leaving before the cops stopped the bus and pulled us off again."

 

After several more hours of interviews, they were due to give a verbal statement in a local court last night before finally being free to go.

 

Police told Mr Haskell two Europeans and two Thais were the chief suspects.

 

Four British male backpackers staying at the same lodge as Mr Haskell had also given blood samples to police.

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Police hunt Thai men

 

Jan 5 2006

 

Tryst Williams, Western Mail

 

 

POLICE in Thailand last night launched a manhunt for four Thai men they believe raped and murdered Welsh backpacker Katherine Horton.

 

Reports broadcast on the country's national television yesterday suggested Katherine had been raped by a group in or around a boat on the beach.

 

The development came after a security guard reported seeing four men on motorbikes near the scene of the 21-year-old's brutal death on the paradise island of Koh Samui on Sunday night.

 

The police officer leading the investigation said that the psychology student from Cardiff had "probably" been raped, despite earlier uncertainty from the forensic scientist who carried out the post-mortem examination.

 

Journalist Andrew Drummond, who has lived in the region for decades, said yesterday's development was a "dramatic switch in the inquiry".

 

 

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Police Major General Suntharn Chaiyanand, Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, called village elders to a meeting at a temporary police headquarters near the site of Katherine's death.

 

Mr Drummond said the officer ordered the 25 men to report any suspicious behaviour from the young men of their villages in the past four days.

 

Two British women had earlier approached police to say they heard screams outside their rented home on Lamai Beach shortly after 10pm on Sunday night and a security guard told officers about the four motorcyclists he had seen there.

 

The launch of yesterday's manhunt coincided with the arrival of Katherine's father Ian in Thailand from his home in the Cardiff suburb of Lisvane. Mr Horton was accompanied by an officer from South Wales Police, although the officer will not be taking an active part in the criminal investigation.

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Scots tourist denies having murdered girl's underwear

By Jenny Booth

 

Katherine Horton (South Wales Police/PA)

 

 

A Scottish backpacker has denied media reports linking him to the death of Katherine Horton, the 21-year-old psychology student raped and drowned on a Thai beach on New Year's Day.

 

Callum Macdonald today used his personal blog to rebut claims - published in some Thai newspapers - that Miss Horton's underwear had been found in his bungalow, two doors down from the bungalow the murdered girl was sharing with a university friend, Ruth Adams.

 

Miss Horton, 21, of Cardiff, was attacked on Sunday night as she walked along Lamai beach after speaking to her mother on her mobile phone. Two British holidaymakers have told police that they heard screams and a commotion outside their beach hut shortly after 10pm on Sunday.

 

In his blog, Mr Macdonald writes: "I should also say it?s likely the British press will report that the Thai press have printed that Kath?s underwear was found in my bungalow. I can categorically say, on record, this is not the case.

 

"Kath?s underwear was found in her own bungalow. This is supported by everyone here and the Thai police. My personal opinion is that there was a mix up with the numbers in the Thai press. We were in bungalow 4 and Kath and Ruth were in bungalow 2. I understand the Thai press simply printed that the underwear was found in bungalow 4, they did not suggest it was found in somebody else?s bungalow."

 

Mr Macdonald added that newspapers in Britain has started doing "pretty extensive background research on me at home", which he said felt "a little invasive". He added: "I'm sure they'll get (at least a slightly) positive image!"

 

Police on Koh Samui are said to be focusing on a report from a security guard at a beach hut complex that he had seen four local men riding motorcycles in the area around 10pm.

 

"Our investigation is focusing on rape," Lieutenant-Colonel Thanongsak Aksornsom said. He believed that the attackers were local men who may have carried out a gang-rape attack on Miss Horton before throwing her unconscious into the sea.

 

Post-mortem examinations revealed that she suffered internal injuries and had been badly beaten. Initial examinations have recorded drowning as the cause of death.

 

Major-General Suntharn Chaiyanand, a deputy police commissioner, called village headmen to a meeting close to the murder scene to seek information. Outside Buddies Bar in Lamai Beach, he told 25 elders to report any suspicious behaviour of young men in their villages over the past four days.

 

Mr Macdonald, a 23-year-old IT consultant from Edinburgh, said that he and his friend Wes had met Miss Horton on New Year's Eve.

 

"She was a lovely girl, really bubbly and friendly. Wes and I spent a few hours talking to Kath and her friend Ruth before they went to Koh Pah-Ngan for New Year," he writes.

 

"We spent New Year?s Day on the beach with them and we all went for dinner that night. We came back from dinner, Kath took her phone from her room and went down the beach to call her mum. We never saw her again."

 

Miss Adams knocked on Mr Macdonald's door at 8:30am to say that Miss Horton still wasn?t back, although her shoes and a note had disappeared from outside the bungalow.

 

"We thought she must have come back during the night and then gone into town. We looked for her on the beach and around Lamai village and the surrounding area," writes Mr Macdonald.

 

"By about 4 in the afternoon we decided there was something very wrong and so Ruth and I went to the police station. Around 6 or 7pm the police told me they had found Kath?s body. They showed me pictures of her body to confirm it was Kath.

 

"I couldn?t believe it. I broke the news to Ruth as gently as I could. She was utterly devastated. Ruth called her parents and I called Kath?s brother in England to break the news to the family. It was the hardest phone call I?ve ever had to make. I called a man on the other side of the world and told him his sister had died in Thailand."

 

Mr Macdonald said that holidaymakers were shocked by the news and had lit candles and laid flowers on the beach for her. "No one who met Kath in the last few days of her life will ever forget her. She was a lovely girl who?s (sic) life was brutally taken from her in the worst possible way. All we can do now is give our thoughts and support to her family."

 

It is understood that police have taken DNA samples from Mr Macdonald and his friend, as well as from other male tourists and from local men.

 

Today Miss Horton's father, Ian, wept as he laid flowers at the beach where her body was found. Miss Adams stood next to him as he paid tribute to his daughter. "Katherine came to Thailand to dance on a beach, to ride an elephant, to have a vacation before her finals at university," he said.

 

"She was full of confidence and felt immune to the dangers of this world as we have all felt when we were young adults. Tragically, her faith in her fellow man let her down and she has been taken from us forever."

 

He appealed for anyone who knew who was responsible for the death of his daughter to save another life by coming forward.

 

He thanked his son Richard for staying in Cardiff and looking after Katherine?s mother Elizabeth, and his other son, Christopher, for travelling to Thailand from his home in Australia.

 

Consular staff at the British Embassy in Thailand are understood to be trying to book flights for the family to return tomorrow evening local time. They hope that Miss Adams, from Chichester, may be able to fly home tonight.