ASOS co-founder Quentin Griffiths had been convicted of fraud a months before falling to his death from the balcony of his 17th-floor flat in Pattaya. The 58-year-old retail tycoon died two days before a planned meeting with his ex-wife’s lawyers that could have affected his prison sentence. Police in Thailand are treating the fall as suicide.

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Griffiths was convicted on 21 October last year and sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment. He had appealed the ruling and, under Thai law, was able to remain free while the appeal was pending. Authorities said he had been accused of falsifying documents to remove his ex-wife, Ploy, as a director of a firm used to hold property for a family home in an alleged £500,000 fraud.

He was arrested at Bangkok airport on 15 January last year after arriving on a first-class flight from London. Footage showed him being led to a police car and driven away. Police chief Lt Col Worapoj Lallitjirakul said: “The court convicted him. He was sentenced to one year and six months in prison on October 21.”

Pictures courtesy of The Sun of the moment ASOS co-founder Griffiths was arrested when he landed in Thailand

Griffiths had been due to meet lawyers representing Ploy in February, in an effort to reach a deal that might have kept him out of prison. Two days before that meeting, he fell from the balcony of his Pattaya condominium. Police and medics found him on the ground below and his exact cause of death will not be confirmed until a full post-mortem reported is completed.

Following his death, Ploy, 43, reported to local police that their three children had been abducted. Griffiths had previously won custody after a court battle, but she said she fears they are now being cared for in England by his family, despite her now being their legal guardian. She said: “I have no knowledge of any business problems he may have had. I am deeply concerned for the safety and wellbeing of all three. I do not know where they are, and I have been unable to contact them.”

The Sun reported that Griffiths, a former advertising executive, co-founded ASOS and later stepped down as marketing director after four years. He made £15 million from share sales in 2010 and received another stock windfall in 2013. His family declined to comment.

CCTV image shows Quentin Griffiths arriving back at the luxury apartment block in Pattaya where he lived – in one of the last pictures before his death

Original stories

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Adapted by ASEAN Now TheSun 1 Mar 2026

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This one does sound like murder, checked condo CCTV? motive? inheritance

Yes, 'assisted suicide' sounds possible in this case.

13 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

This one does sound like murder, checked condo CCTV? motive? inheritance

10 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Yes, 'assisted suicide' sounds possible in this case.

No worries about "where are the kids" i see.

3 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

No worries about "where are the kids" i see.

With the grandmother as usual!

5 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

With the grandmother as usual!

Read the OP again.

3 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Read the OP again.

Mr Griffiths does not have parents?

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

Mr Griffiths does not have parents?

They are not legal guardians, so that is kidnapping.

3 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

They are not legal guardians, so that is kidnapping.

I read he got custody so he could take them to the UK.

I did not read that his parents came to Thailand and took them.

2 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

I read he got custody so he could take them to the UK.

I did not read that his parents came to Thailand and took them.

If his parents have them without being a guardian and not informing the mother, they are kidnappers.

6 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

If his parents have them without being a guardian and not informing the mother, they are kidnappers.

Not necessarily true if they have his permission, as he is the legal guardian. I doubt if he had brought them back to Thailand he would get to keep them. Foreign fathers get a bad deal here. How do you know he had not informed the mother?

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6 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Not necessarily true if they have his permission, as he is the legal guardian. I doubt if he had brought them back to Thailand he would get to keep them. Foreign fathers get a bad deal here. How do you know he had not informed the mother?

From the OP:

Following his death, Ploy, 43, reported to local police that their three children had been abducted. Griffiths had previously won custody after a court battle, but she said she fears they are now being cared for in England by his family, despite her now being their legal guardian. ........................... I do not know where they are, and I have been unable to contact them.”

9 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Mr Griffiths does not have parents?

That's not what you initially meant.

17 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

From the OP:

Following his death, Ploy, 43, reported to local police that their three children had been abducted. Griffiths had previously won custody after a court battle, but she said she fears they are now being cared for in England by his family, despite her now being their legal guardian. ........................... I do not know where they are, and I have been unable to contact them.”

So she says. Has there been a court decision in either Thailand or the UK to support this? I presume the Thai court took the children off her for good reason. Read the OP, no mention of that

14 hours ago, stevenl said:

That's not what you initially meant.

And you would know this how?

18 hours ago, jacko45k said:

So she says. Has there been a court decision in either Thailand or the UK to support this? I presume the Thai court took the children off her for good reason. Read the OP, no mention of that

Has there been a court decision that his family has guardianship?

On 2/28/2026 at 5:42 PM, FritsSikkink said:

If his parents have them without being a guardian and not informing the mother, they are kidnappers.

Most likely they were the authorized guardians. If the deceased had been awarded custody, then he was the legal guardian. As legal guardian, he could designate others to act on his behalf, such as a family member. All that is required is the appropriate signed and notarized legal document. If the children were UK citizens and had been issued UK passports, then it was not difficult to remove the children from Thailand. The UK border agents would have closely examined the authorization document before allowing entry. There are 3 children; i) 12 year old boy, ii) 11 year old girl and iii) 19 year old woman.

The 19 year old was free to do as she wished, and there is no mention of her. The children would have been questioned to verify that they were traveling willingly and not under duress.

I expect that the ex-spouse was well aware that the children were long gone when she made her report.

6 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Has there been a court decision that his family has guardianship?

I have not seen any report of that. I am intrigued why the mother lost a case and guardianship in the first place. The guy appears to have been able to leave the country with a conviction over him and yet came back... but likely decided to leave the kids in the UK. They had been apart some time.

On 2/28/2026 at 3:01 PM, scubascuba3 said:

This one does sound like murder, checked condo CCTV? motive? inheritance

This is insinuated on literally every suicide thread. Years on, decades on of people posting this, among all the CCTV we've had for 30 years, has a Thai woman ever been implicated in this ? Even once ?

3 hours ago, Harsh Jones said:

This is insinuated on literally every suicide thread. Years on, decades on of people posting this, among all the CCTV we've had for 30 years, has a Thai woman ever been implicated in this ? Even once ?

If they investigated the CCTV then everyone would know, my condo has CCTV everywhere so easy to check. Many people seem to kill themselves because money runs out, this wasn't a factor here