Death On The Beach

[Batty]

I hope no one moves this to the Koh Tao forums, as it was worldwide news at the time with every farang in Thailand talking about it.

 

I just started watching Death On The Beach, a three-part documentary broadcast on Sky (UK) this week about the various sometimes mysterious deaths on Koh Tao a few years ago. It is not sensationalized Chanel 5 garbage, it's a serious documentary by a great broadcaster.

 

Anyway, the killings/deaths are shameful in their own right of course, but I almost forgot just how bungled and shameful the investigations were. I can't remember ever watching a documentary that made me so angry. 

 

The Hannah Witheridge & David Miller murder 'investigation' was just so incredibly incompetent, lazy, and amateurish it begs belief. I know we live in a developing country and things like this take time to improve, but the failure of the investigation was less about adequate training and more about a complete lack of care. It seemed to me the BIB cared not one bit about justice and just wanted to wrap things up as quickly as possible, truth be dammed, so they could all continue with their lives.

 

The trampling of the crime scene by hordes of police, curious locals, and amateur journalists was reprehensible. Casual onlookers nonchalantly walked across the sand, unhindered in any way, to get close-up photos of the naked, uncovered Hannah for social media. Hours after the murder, the BIB released CCTV image of both victims walking to the beach hand in hand - the only problem was that the people in the images looked so unlike the victims in every way possible, it was almost comical that they had the nerve to release the image and expect people to accept it. A few hours after that, a British journalist walks into a dive shop and asks to see the CCTV footage of the street both victims hung out on the night before, and acquires clear images of both victims easily. Why hadn't the BIB visited local shops and done the same? 

 

Then there was an image found on CCTV showing, at around the time the murders happened, a half-naked local guy looking quite anxious running from the crime scene. This guy looked very much like a known person on the island - obviously, I can't say who, and neither should anyone replying to this post - but its safe to say that this person looks nothing like the two Burmese arrested, charged and convicted for the crime. Why wasn't this followed up? Well, you can probably figure that out for yourself.

 

I am only halfway into the first episode, and already the procedures and bungling of the so-called investigation are incredible. Haven't even covered all the other deaths yet!

 

Shameful man, it realy is. I feel fortunate to live in Thailand, but there are times when I take no pride in calling this place home.

 

 

 

[Mac Mickmanus]

What about the Scottish guy ?

The one who got chased around the island just after the murders and some locals tried to hang him , they were going to hang him, make it seem like suicide and then blame the murders on him 

[Kwasaki]

12 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

What about the Scottish guy ?

The one who got chased around the island just after the murders and some locals tried to hang him , they were going to hang him, make it seem like suicide and then blame the murders on him 

I think at the time one theory was it was alleged to be a son of a very rich family and the ones arrested were also victims.

[scubascuba3]

Look on YouTube for the channel "koh tao murders death island" has a lot of good videos. There have been threads on here before but a minority of people try to shut down any discussion on it

Edited May 6, 2022 by scubascuba3

[Batty]

2 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

What about the Scottish guy ?

The one who got chased around the island just after the murders and some locals tried to hang him , they were going to hang him, make it seem like suicide and then blame the murders on him 

Jesus, I haven't even got there yet! Unbelievable! They just started interviewing a nervous Scottish bloke who didn't want to say too much, must be the same guy.

 

It blows my mind how if you are of wealth in this country you can get away with anything. I am no angel, done some daft things in my time, nicked a few times in my late teens and stuff, but I have my morals about me. If I was a copper and some family offered me money to get out of murdering 2 young innocent people, there is no way in he11 I would take it. Just shows how little morals a certain group of people here have. 

[Batty]

2 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

I think at the time one theory was it was alleged to be a son of a very rich family and the ones arrested were also victims.

Yah, I haven't got there in the doc yet but I do remember that at the time. I can picture the fella now - and he looks exactly like the bloke running away I CCTV.

[Kwasaki]

1 minute ago, Batty said:

Yah, I haven't got there in the doc yet but I do remember that at the time. I can picture the fella now - and he looks exactly like the bloke running away I CCTV.

I dunno it was just something I remember said, people on holidays should watch there backs. 

Beach parties alcohol and drugs what you expect. 

[internationalism]

that was just only 200mln envelope to around ministry by a seriol killer family.

After that Prayuth said it's their own fault to walk nighttime on the beach and blamed sex violence happening in thailand against female tourists entirely on victims.

The same investigator who botched kho tao serial murder was later tranferred to mass graves on malaysian border and with this investigation he did so well, that ended in australia as a political refugee 

Edited May 6, 2022 by internationalism

[internationalism]

39 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

I dunno it was just something I remember said, people on holidays should watch there backs. 

Beach parties alcohol and drugs what you expect. 

the last phangan full moon party around songkran had over 10k participants, not sure if there were even any injuries.

Before covid those parties were larger, over 30k, and lasted for longer and also then no murders or death.

But I do remember some local vendor smashing spanish girl's head with bear bottle for sitting on the 7/11 stairs.

Phangan is just the next door from koh thao, just it's ruled by mafia which controls police

Edited May 6, 2022 by internationalism

[Iamfalang]

I am sure every single country in the world could do the same "documentary."
 

We will die not knowing 393223 trillion bad events that happened in the world, and I guess that's a good thing.   I'm not even sure what news to believe.   anyhow, I'll give it a look

[internationalism]

@Battycan you post a link where to find those 3 videos.

The first part was broadcast already on 6st March

[Mac Mickmanus]

49 minutes ago, Batty said:

Jesus, I haven't even got there yet! Unbelievable! They just started interviewing a nervous Scottish bloke who didn't want to say too much, must be the same guy.

 

It blows my mind how if you are of wealth in this country you can get away with anything. I am no angel, done some daft things in my time, nicked a few times in my late teens and stuff, but I have my morals about me. If I was a copper and some family offered me money to get out of murdering 2 young innocent people, there is no way in he11 I would take it. Just shows how little morals a certain group of people here have. 

If I recall correctly, the two suspects were chasing him around the island with the intent of killing him. He went into a 7/11 and stayed in view of a CCTV camera . 

   He then made a live streamed video call (on Facebook I think) and stated someone's trying to kill him and that if hes dead by tomorrow , so and so did the murder and he isnt going to commit suicide .

   He hasnt been heard of since  although I think that he did manage to get back to Scotland 

[The Hammer2021]

A sad and disturbing  story much like story of the four  gay lads murdered in London and the following police  inquiry- watch

From the makers of The Moorside comes the BBC's latest hard-hitting true crime drama, Four Lives. The three-part series tells the real story of the four men murdered by serial killer Stephen ...

Or the murder of Steven Lawrence and the conduct  of the London police

Or the rape and murder Sarah Everard and the subsequent police behaviour.

Sadly we don't  need  to watch documentaries about  foreign countries to be aware of police incompetence, cynicism, prejudice and corruption as its prevalent in our home countries especially  if you are British.

[Batty]

1 hour ago, internationalism said:

that was just only 200mln envelope to around ministry by a seriol killer family.

After that Prayuth said it's their own fault to walk nighttime on the beach and blamed sex violence happening in thailand against female tourists entirely on victims.

The same investigator who botched kho tao serial murder was later tranferred to mass graves on malaysian border and with this investigation he did so well, that ended in australia as a political refugee 

You mean Paween Pongsirin. I dont think he was directly heading the Koh Tao stuff, was he? It was the BIB number two who headed down to Koh Tao to head up the investigation.

 

Paween Pongsirin seemed like a decent chap to me. He exposed the Burmese people smuggling scam which allegedly saw refugees fleeing to Malaysia from Burma taken from the boats and sent to work in brothels and farms. A certain group of people dressed in brown benefited mostly from the scam, he tried to bring them down and was sent to the south. A hit was imminent, i mean he would have been hit down there within days, so he fled to Australia.

 

 

 

 

[internationalism]

2 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

A sad and disturbing  story much like story of the four  gay lads murdered in London and the following police  inquiry- watch

From the makers of The Moorside comes the BBC's latest hard-hitting true crime drama, Four Lives. The three-part series tells the real story of the four men murdered by serial killer Stephen ...

Or the murder of Steven Lawrence and the conduct  of the London police

Or the rape and murder Sarah Everard and the subsequent police behaviour.

Sadly we don't  need  to watch documentaries about  foreign countries to be aware of police incompetence, cynicism, prejudice and corruption as its prevalent in our home countries especially  if you are British.

don't compare british police to thai police.

In the UK they can put 50 skilled high ranking officers on the case and they will work for up to 6 months. 

all those cases were solved and perpetrators sentenced.

There are no cases of corruption, bribery, as in thailand.

You are trolling, don't bother to reply

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, internationalism said:

@Battycan you post a link where to find those 3 videos.

The first part was broadcast already on 6st March

I can see them all uploaded on OK.RU

 

https://ok.ru/video/3564414307017

https://ok.ru/video/3564414372553

https://ok.ru/video/3564414700233

 

[Adumbration]

When you have lived here as long as I have you will come to realize that the investigations on Koh Tao were actually conducted much better than usual.

 

And that, sadly, is a very sobering realization.

[kekalot]

42 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

I can see them all uploaded on OK.RU

 

https://ok.ru/video/3564414307017

https://ok.ru/video/3564414372553

https://ok.ru/video/3564414700233

 

if you want to download them and not stream you can add m. at the front of the url like https://m.ok.ru/video/3564414307017 and then right click and save as

 

[BangkokReady]

6 hours ago, Batty said:

Just shows how little morals a certain group of people here have. 

Probably not restricted to one group.

[Daffy D]

5 hours ago, internationalism said:

@Battycan you post a link where to find those 3 videos.

The first part was broadcast already on 6st March

All three parts available on with subs on RARBG and 1337X

 

[Mac Mickmanus]

5 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Or the murder of Steven Lawrence and the conduct  of the London police

Or the rape and murder Sarah Everard and the subsequent police behaviour.

Sadly we don't  need  to watch documentaries about  foreign countries to be aware of police incompetence, cynicism, prejudice and corruption as its prevalent in our home countries especially  if you are British.

Errrmm, the killers of both Steven Lawrence and Sarah Everard all got jailed and got a wole life sentence  .

   The corruption in the Koa Tao case is incomparable to some  bad policing in the UK

[d4dang]

The Sheryl Duncan Murder....a true Thai horror story which was made into a movie shows how little things have changed. Check it out. 

[Batty]

18 hours ago, Iamfalang said:

I am sure every single country in the world could do the same "documentary."
 

We will die not knowing 393223 trillion bad events that happened in the world, and I guess that's a good thing.   I'm not even sure what news to believe.   anyhow, I'll give it a look

I see your point but to be fair, Thailand is way worse for this kind of thing than most countries. Someone earlier mentioned the flawed Stephen Port murders in UK which was an unfair comparison - the UK police did a terrible job, but not quite so terrible as allowing the public to trample over crime scenes, not bother with DNA or any forensic basics, and just keystone cop your way through it. 

 

I see your point though, like I said.

[Batty]

12 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Errrmm, the killers of both Steven Lawrence and Sarah Everard all got jailed and got a wole life sentence  .

   The corruption in the Koa Tao case is incomparable to some  bad policing in the UK

I known right? I didn't even bother replying as it's such a silly comparison. Comparing UK tops with Thai cops as the same is just crazy. 

[Batty]

12 hours ago, Daffy D said:

All three parts available on with subs on RARBG and 1337X

 

Sure, I'll dm you. 

[JustinCredible]

21 hours ago, internationalism said:

@Battycan you post a link where to find those 3 videos.

The first part was broadcast already on 6st March

If you use Torrents you can find all 3  episodes at "Xspeeds.eu"

[LivinLOS]

On 5/6/2022 at 7:41 AM, Batty said:

It seemed to me the BIB cared not one bit about justice and just wanted to wrap things up as quickly as possible, truth be dammed, so they could all continue with their lives.

You say this like its a surprise ? 
 

The BiB's primary funding is being paid by businesses and organisations to break the law.. Once you understand that is the primary function of the Thai police force then you understand why it is the way it is, and also why there is no incentivisation (in fact a strong disincentive) to clarify and streamline laws into functioning legal system.. A frankly unworkable 12pm nightlife closure is never changed because it is precisely that law, which has to be broken, which funds the police. 

[Lemsta69]

15 minutes ago, LivinLOS said:

You say this like its a surprise ? 
 

The BiB's primary funding is being paid by businesses and organisations to break the law.. Once you understand that is the primary function of the Thai police force then you understand why it is the way it is, and also why there is no incentivisation (in fact a strong disincentive) to clarify and streamline laws into functioning legal system.. A frankly unworkable 12pm nightlife closure is never changed because it is precisely that law, which has to be broken, which funds the police. 

from his comments it seems like the OP is still coming to terms with the nature of the beast. it takes a while.

[LivinLOS]

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/special-reports/434739/to-protect-and-self-serve

Just a few of the howlers of past times.. 

[pagallim]

17 hours ago, d4dang said:

The Sheryl Duncan Murder....a true Thai horror story which was made into a movie shows how little things have changed. Check it out. 

What's the name of the movie?