Nigeone

Jonathan Samuels..reporting for SKY has reported on numerous occasions this morning that his translator has been warned by Mafia and is now not able to help them with the translations....that's what's happened...

The S*** is slowly hitting the fan...The Sky reporter just to clarify said the translator working for them has been threatened and can not now help them..have listened to it live three times now..also a senior Police guy has said the initial DNA is not able to be tested as it isn't there anymore..or isn't enough to test left..how does that work?

Update, the S*** has well and truly hit the fan, the world is a witness, I cant believe what is being said by the RTP, they've lost the DNA!!!! Disgrace utter disgrace, we are talking about 2 high profile murders and the so called chain of evidence that should have been secure. This trial should now be stopped, how can it convict without the key evidence.

reading between the lines I believe that the evidence provided by UK authorities was going to conflict with Thai police evidence so it has been conveniently lost

The most disturbing thing now is that the real murderers involved in this case will likely never be found nor will there be any further attempt to find them - a shameless charade to say the least and not unexpected by me either

I agree with you..I said in another topic that the Brits have been very quiet,as you would expect from them,and I think politically were probably hoping they wouldn't have to get involved and it looks like they won't. Either I'm wrong or they have been very clever..Nobody knows what the UK police have,including the Thai RTP but the thought that they may have DNA is probably scaring the s*** out of them...And we all know when push comes to shove there not the brightest..It's only day 2, and it's not being anyway near a convincing prosecution case up to now..In fact I would say if this was in a civilised country it would already be thrown out..

The Koh Samui mafia would probably rather see the scion of the Koh Tao clan convicted if he really did it 'cause, if he gets off for this one, he's bound to cause them more and maybe bigger trouble down the road

Then you have just confirmed what I'm saying..If one branch of the Mafia wants the other to get the blame there not going to get involved are they....No mate, you've lost this one..The only reason the Thai mafia are involved is because they are involved!! I'm sure you follow that rational..

To an overly nested comment above: I was not referring to speedboats. I was referring to the possibility that these crimes were committed by fellow tourists who were able to leave the island that morning on the scheduled ferry before any lockdown. I was not referring to the Immaculate Escape of everyone's favorite likely perp.

While your scenario is plausible, I suggest it's more likely that a few of the Thai football members who travelled to the island (if involved) left the scene early. I think it is unlikely that tourists would have committed this horrific crime.

Why do you say it's unlikely that tourists would have committed this crime?

If it's just your wild assumption then your comment has no meaning whatever.

This island is always full of young Brits, many of them boisterous and some even a bit immature and also from other countries, so I will make the suggestion that it's possible another boy took a fancy to the young lady now sadly passed away. It has been reported much earlier that the unfortunate couple had an argument earlier in the evening.

One the other hand, if you have specific reason to make your above statement then please share.

He's one for you..Can you tell me?! And it's been widely reported by UK reporters that witnesses and people having knowledge of this crime have been threatened and now only today it's been said that a interpreter has been threatened by Mafia..Can you please tell me..and think about it slowly!? ..why do think the Thai Mafia have any interest in a crime carried out by tourists...Take your time....

I realize what has been reported. Why would the Mafia on Koh Samui let the Mafia from Koh Tao have any say on what happens on their island?

Your clutching at straws now...I say again..why would Thai Mafia have any interest about a crime committed by tourists..and warn off people..whether from Koh Tao Koh Samui or wherever...Mafia would stay well away as they don't need the hassle...

To an overly nested comment above: I was not referring to speedboats. I was referring to the possibility that these crimes were committed by fellow tourists who were able to leave the island that morning on the scheduled ferry before any lockdown. I was not referring to the Immaculate Escape of everyone's favorite likely perp.

While your scenario is plausible, I suggest it's more likely that a few of the Thai football members who travelled to the island (if involved) left the scene early. I think it is unlikely that tourists would have committed this horrific crime.

Why do you say it's unlikely that tourists would have committed this crime?

If it's just your wild assumption then your comment has no meaning whatever.

This island is always full of young Brits, many of them boisterous and some even a bit immature and also from other countries, so I will make the suggestion that it's possible another boy took a fancy to the young lady now sadly passed away. It has been reported much earlier that the unfortunate couple had an argument earlier in the evening.

One the other hand, if you have specific reason to make your above statement then please share.

He's one for you..Can you tell me?! And it's been widely reported by UK reporters that witnesses and people having knowledge of this crime have been threatened and now only today it's been said that a interpreter has been threatened by Mafia..Can you please tell me..and think about it slowly!? ..why do think the Thai Mafia have any interest in a crime carried out by tourists...Take your time....

Good, because if that's true the "mafia: are digging there own graves.

The British press won't fear them in the slightest, and will go after them big time.

This is very disturbing, tweet just in from Jonathan Samuels:

Our Thai translator at backpacker murder trial says she's been 'warned off' by 'the Mafia'. Elements here clearly fear a fair trial

https://twitter.com/jonathansamuels

The mafia warning off the Thai translator for Sky News shows just how far they will go. Its little wonder that the defense have stated that important witnesses they have are too scared to testify.

But yes this will backfire on them and will only give the media more determination to report every chaotic aspect of this case, ie tell the truth no matter what the consequences. There are obviously some people who are in a state of fear that the truth will be revealed.

Reminds me of the statement Andy Hall made some time ago and kind of reinforces that

Its really challenging getting witnesses for them because everyones so scared, Hall said. He said that Thais living on Koh Tao are especially scared to speak out, because they have names and addresses that can be easily tracked. People are scared that their businesses will be closed or their lives will be threatened, even that they could be killed, Hall said. http://asiancorrespondent.com/128732/koh-tao-murder-suspects-issue-plea-for-witnesses-ahead-of-formal-charges/

Sounds like further Bull-shit from the Defense, which is what they want.

Andy Hall is not bias! He has stated his personal opinion on several links but without Evidence. He tries to sound neutral but makes mistakes. He makes a good living here without working! Unless someone can show me he is given money from his mother, and it comes from other sources.

A Gravy Train is just that! The smart ones know how to find it and pump it. The many dumb ones support it!

A Fact of Life! .

Are you for real....The Sky reporter saying that his interpreter has been threatned by Mafia...why would there be threats if the case was watertight...UK media in this situation is not going to lie..it's too risky...A BBC reporter earlier was speaking to a Burmese on Koh Tao and he also said they had been threatened ..and everybody else had been warned off by Mafia..why do you think that is...And now the DNA is supposedly not able to be used..how is that? There digging up bodies from the Great War..over 100 years ago and matching it...I'm sorry but none of this stacks up in your favor and your co posters....The other issue is the Thai's are not clever enough in a situation like this and defense but more likely human rights and the media are going to crucify them with all these anomalies ... The RTP and Thailand is already coming out of this very badly and it's going to get worse....and you know..how sad is it that two people had to die in terrible circumstances for this to come to ahead..I can't imagine how the parents must be feeling....they are I'm sure intelligent people and will be starting to wonder what the hells been going on

The S*** is slowly hitting the fan...The Sky reporter just to clarify said the translator working for them has been threatened and can not now help them..have listened to it live three times now..

I'm betting that jdinasia, AleG, Goldbuggy etc will be coming on to say that this is part of a setup by the defense team to try and have the case thrown out of court

They can say what they want...nothing and I repeat nothing that I have heard or seen makes think this is anything but a set up...and I really really hope the court judge is backed into a corner and never mind this face crap...justice is seen to be done..I think being hear in the UK at the moment I'm really really surprised how much constant coverage is getting..I'm glad it is as the UK media is notorious for not letting go and the threats by 'mafia' to interpreters is not going to do the authorities in Thailand any good..I wouldn't want to cross the UK media...

The S*** is slowly hitting the fan...The Sky reporter just to clarify said the translator working for them has been threatened and can not now help them..have listened to it live three times now..also a senior Police guy has said the initial DNA is not able to be tested as it isn't there anymore..or isn't enough to test left..how does that work?

It rained here late yesterday arvo. The wife and her brother were working in the mango orchard. I saw the rain coming and rode out to see if they were packing up...they weren't! We all got drenched! But it was badly needed water for the trees. By the time we got back to the village we were shivering and in need of warm showers!

Showers ? Man your lucky we have had to revert back to using buckets from a tub. You would think we had gone back to 1981. We are bringing water up from the dam in jerry cans, the dam administrators wont turn on the pumps. You should hear the lazy kids of the village complaining about having to carry water, they have never had to do it before. I remember my wife and sisters (25 to 30 yo) in the early 80's, bringing up water (not because of drought, but because there was no pump), two 20 lt. jerry cans on a bamboo pole.

My God I hope it rains soon where we are in the Buriram panhandle. Some years of past droughts we have been able to fill our rice storage room with rice to feed the family for a year, but nothing for sale to the co-op. This year we are easy a 6 weeks behind our first planting. And not too much left in the Ban Kow.

"Showers ? Man your lucky we have had to revert back to using buckets from a tub"

Buckets from a tub, luxury, we have to rely on our neighbours spitting on us.

Spitting on you that's luxury,where I am we have to stab each other and make us cry then drink the tears

Getting a lot of coverage in the UK news..both Sky and BBC are covering the lead up maybe 3 times a hour..I have a feeling they sense a story and the house of cards may be about to come crashing down...they have been no actually updates as in hourly with the actual case just reminding everyone of the murders..Does anyone think that the Brit police only seeming to offer information at a late stage that they might of been hoping it would get sorted without them having to get involved ...ie from a political angle..just a thought as its been noticeable that the doesn't seem to have been much forthcoming...which incidentally I think is a good thing. Leaving the contridiictory statements to come from the RTP

"TAT noted that Thailand has great connectivity via air, road and sea..."

Ha ha ha. The roads are death traps, the sea is full of rubbish, and the connectivity by air has been called into question for the past several months due to safety concerns. Why not talk about the incredible railways while you are at it?

This and so much more..which is sad really as the country should! If it had got its act together and mentality sorted there approach should be clear leaders...however the above along with greed and complete failure of the authorities to address all the issues to do with law enforcement and graft means there is no light at the end of this tunnel. The dreamt up figures of TaT don't convince any sane person either..It's sad because it had everything going for it years ago...

that could be funny as its usual for,one half not to know what the other half is doing...anybody open a 'book' on odds of a student getting detained for working without a permit...

Yeah right..and we all believe this ! So a foreign organisation went to Surin just to brainwash some random student!

It's the blame game! Need to look closer to home one feels..

That's a crazy picture..I've seen it all now...when they were planning and laying out the road how the hell didn't they work round it.I can just see the conversation that took place when they did the road...along with the big smile and laugh! Followed by more whiskey

Foreign English- teachers...because Thais could never do such a thing!

What does this have to do with the story at hand? Can you show me in the article where it declares there are no paedophiles in Thailand?

To be honest, this is something that should be mandatory in every position where adults will be working with children. I know that it's a requirement in Korea and Japan for their foreign teachers.

It's also a requirement in the UK and has been for a number of years..If you have anything to do with children be it refereeing ,coaching teaching ,sports clubs,Cubs ,brownies scouts the full hit you have to have police clearance...big problem to if you take pictures of school sports days and the like and have any sort of images of other people's kids on your phone or camera without permission

They did the road running outside my house in Mae tha Lamphun...all they did was scrape back the surface down to the red soil Then ran over it continuously for about half a day with big rollers then in the night 30 or 40 lorry loads of chippings not hardcore as we know it.They then leveled it and went over it with the heavy rollers again,maybe 16 inches/400 mm in one go then put approx 2 inches of Tarmac on the top...I have done lots of ground works over the years and it looked when it was finished but I know after one year or so and the rains followed by big spells of drought it's going to break up..Guarantee....and I notice one poster making the comment about so called experts on here..well as someone else pointed out there's bound to be many ex pats with a multitude of skills and knowledge...from leaving school many of us had to sink or swim and have lots of knowledge...

Erosion and subsidence are very different things, the former usually caused by excess running water so unlikely to be the problem.

I understand what your saying although it's not strictly true...in times of big drought..like now...this can effect water tables and when the rains come this can cause erosion and then eventually subsidence..

If the Dept. Of highways could " make sure the roads wouldn't collapse" why didn't they make sure THESE didn't !

They can't it's bull****.whats more the problem could get worse with the thousands of bore holes to provide water is instigated..mess with the water tables and you'll always have problems

It would help more if people already here were able to volunteer to help their children's school.

I agree totally..what's more In my experience if your in Thailand 24/7 you need something to occupy your time be it a few hours a day/week..I had a great time introducing English to some young students in Lamphun and found it really rewarding...At the time I didn't know it wasn't strictly legal as I did it for no fee..and indeed would do it again...I was asked would I go to a small school in Lamphun area each week ,they didn't have much money they said to pay me, and if my circumstances hadn't had a drastic change I would have been happy to do so and for free...One thing I did do with the few I did teach was to take them around BIg C and just teach them the names for all the items whose names we take for granted..quite a eye opener as to what they didn't know the name off. Like everything is a truck in Thailand etc...if the authorities had half a brain they would address this issue...but we know it's not going to happen !! On another note but still under the topic I am a qualified advanced Basketball coach with 35 years experience and could do a really good job in Thailand with the young teens but can't because of stupid regulations..it's sad as they are losing out in so many ways and I'm sure there are many more ex pats with great skills which could be utilised.

What is needed is students who want to learn English.....and they are few in number.

Yes I agree but that's not altogether the students fault is it...they are brought up in this false opinion of there's nothing like Thailand. That and along with there parents never been educated probably it all leaves to no idea of the importance of learning English..I have taught briefly friends of my x wife's children and there was definately an awareness to learn English from them and from the 4 of the girls 3 were particularly attentive and really picked it up well ..Having said that I dealt with just speaking and having never had formal teaching training in English but have a great deal of teaching and coaching experience in sports adapted lots of good practices and also encouraged them to think ! And have everyday conversations between them..They are not used to that it was obvious but they adapted incredibly well...When I go back later in the year I will do my bit and continue..I found them on a almost one to one situation to be really good!

What do those girls get paid, anyway? I would guess very little. Do they get tipped well? Or their bottoms pinched more?

Some of them seem to probably spend more on make-up than they could possibly take in in an evening.

Otherwise, speaking of pretties --- other than note that Thailand is clearly overloaded with them --- what about the ones at all the cosmetic counters. Do they really make a living ? Well, maybe they get free cosmetics.

I knew a Asahi prettie in Lamphun and she said she got 300 baht per night which was 20 baht more than the normal waitresses..plus tips of course..

Actually..where all stupid and the Thai navy top men have got it right...there going to use them in the battle against illegal fishing..allegedly ...in the UK you often hear stories of fishing boats pulled and sometimes sunk by what could only be subs...So the navy's cunning plan..sail around the Gulf of Thailand and catch the nets and drag down all the illegal fishing boats and crew...problem solved and don't need to use any ordinance either...why didn't the brains on here think of that!!

Kind of a hair brained idea but read it anyway. Love your avatar looks like my g/f

It was sarcastic ..sorry

That's going to go down well with the Mom and Pop stores..I don't think!

k

Dog is definitely eaten in Thailand. Was having a conversation in Lamphun one night and 3 girls there had all eaten Dog meat and all the villages around them did too..Said it was nice .I can't rememember where they were from but def hill tribe girls..lovely girls too..taking about stray dogs etc there a nuisance and used to have big problems with my wife's son who rescued a dog from someone who was going to kill it..He thought he had done the dog a favor but he didn't realize it had to be fed which seemed to be a problem to work it out for him..I caught him and his sister trying to wash him one day with a rope round his neck..tight...to try and control the dog while pouring water over it...you can guess!! anyway after sorting that out a little,while later she was in heat and every dog in the neighborhood had there way with her...who was going to look after the inevitable puppies?! Well along came 6 puppies and one week later there where 5 and then 4 till all that was left in three weeks was 1.. All run down by bikes outside as they went out under the gate . I did my nut when I got there again and tried to get him and sister to get her to the vet but they bought some medicine..it's cheaper apparently..but left it in the fridge and didn't give it to the bitch...there lies the problem..they like the idea of a dog but have zero intent or knowledge in looking after them..hence so many stay diseased dogs running free..Budhists...I don't think so...I wouldn't eat dog meat but he people want to do it..okay up to them..have a problem to argue against it as you won't get much more cute than lambs or piglets and we eat them! If your brought up eating dog you don't see it as a problem..the way they get killed and reared needs to be looked at mind

Actually..where all stupid and the Thai navy top men have got it right...there going to use them in the battle against illegal fishing..allegedly ...in the UK you often hear stories of fishing boats pulled and sometimes sunk by what could only be subs...So the navy's cunning plan..sail around the Gulf of Thailand and catch the nets and drag down all the illegal fishing boats and crew...problem solved and don't need to use any ordinance either...why didn't the brains on here think of that!!