Police Admit Failure In Kirsty Jones Murder Case

[Maejo Man]

Finally this tragic case has the official "sweep it under the carpet" stamp pf approval. The investigation has run longer than any other foreign murder, purely because of pressure from various British authorities.

If there had not been a rash of "inactive postings" or "transfers" within certain government departments the killer would have been behind bars by now

Police admit failure in murder case

No evidence on British girl's killer

By Cheewin Sattha

Police in the northern province of Chiang Mai admitted failure in the case of British backpacker Kirsty Sara Jones, 24, who was strangled to death in a guesthouse in 2000. The case was transferred to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) at the request of the Jones family, the British embassy and British police, in August 2005. The case has been reopened several times.

''Though the case file has been transferred to the DSI, police still support the investigation in association with Interpol,'' said Narit Sorndit, deputy investigation chief of Provincial Police Region 5, adding that police had not given up hope. The case has a statute of limitations of 20 years.

The body of Jones, who was from Wales, was found on Aug 10 in her room at the Aree guesthouse more than 12 hours after the murder.

Pol Lt-Col Narit, then part of the investigation team, said police obtained plenty of forensic evidence _ tissue under the victim's fingernails, hair, fingerprints and semen, but still could not find the killer. The crime triggered a large-scale murder inquiry.

Pol Lt-Col Narit said two inquiry teams were set up. One was under the provincial police and the other under Police Region 5.

The two teams appeared to work in different directions. After questioning 70 witnesses, police narrowed down the number of suspects to nine, including the guesthouse owner, tour guides, tourists and guesthouse workers.

A month after Jones' death, police arrested guesthouse owner Andrew Gill, 36, but his semen did not match that found in Jones' vagina. ''This shows how Chiang Mai police were tricked by the killer,'' said Pol Lt-Col Narit.

Under one police theory, Mr Gill watched the victim have sex with another man, then slipped into her room. Ms Jones resisted, so she was strangled.

However, Chiang Mai prosecutors decided not to proceed with the case against Mr Gill, citing weak evidence.

Police could only deport Mr Gill, who told a British newspaper that he spent one million baht in his defence in court. It was found that the money that Mr Gill's family sent from Britain was spent by his wife.

[p1p]

Just edited the topic title.

[Blinky Bill]

I'm only repeating what has already been said but one of the best things that happened to Chiang Mai was having Andy McGill deported. I and most others believe he was innocent (incapable) of the crime he was accused of but guilty of many other petty offenses which pissed so many people off. Many people, myself included liked Andy but after some years the novelty wore off.

I hear from reliable sources that he continued his ways back in the UK.

Back to the subject, many of us know who the real perpetrator was in the case. I wonder if he has returned to duty?

[BigSnake]

Finally this tragic case has the official "sweep it under the carpet" stamp pf approval. The investigation has run longer than any other foreign murder, purely because of pressure from various British authorities.

If there had not been a rash of "inactive postings" or "transfers" within certain government departments the killer would have been behind bars by now

Police admit failure in murder case

No evidence on British girl's killer

By Cheewin Sattha

Police in the northern province of Chiang Mai admitted failure in the case of British backpacker Kirsty Sara Jones, 24, who was strangled to death in a guesthouse in 2000. The case was transferred to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) at the request of the Jones family, the British embassy and British police, in August 2005. The case has been reopened several times.

''Though the case file has been transferred to the DSI, police still support the investigation in association with Interpol,'' said Narit Sorndit, deputy investigation chief of Provincial Police Region 5, adding that police had not given up hope. The case has a statute of limitations of 20 years.

The body of Jones, who was from Wales, was found on Aug 10 in her room at the Aree guesthouse more than 12 hours after the murder.

Pol Lt-Col Narit, then part of the investigation team, said police obtained plenty of forensic evidence _ tissue under the victim's fingernails, hair, fingerprints and semen, but still could not find the killer. The crime triggered a large-scale murder inquiry.

Pol Lt-Col Narit said two inquiry teams were set up. One was under the provincial police and the other under Police Region 5.

The two teams appeared to work in different directions. After questioning 70 witnesses, police narrowed down the number of suspects to nine, including the guesthouse owner, tour guides, tourists and guesthouse workers.

A month after Jones' death, police arrested guesthouse owner Andrew Gill, 36, but his semen did not match that found in Jones' vagina. ''This shows how Chiang Mai police were tricked by the killer,'' said Pol Lt-Col Narit.

Under one police theory, Mr Gill watched the victim have sex with another man, then slipped into her room. Ms Jones resisted, so she was strangled.

However, Chiang Mai prosecutors decided not to proceed with the case against Mr Gill, citing weak evidence.

Police could only deport Mr Gill, who told a British newspaper that he spent one million baht in his defence in court. It was found that the money that Mr Gill's family sent from Britain was spent by his wife.

SOS

[siam-i-am]

I'm only repeating what has already been said but one of the best things that happened to Chiang Mai was having Andy McGill deported. I and most others believe he was innocent (incapable) of the crime he was accused of but guilty of many other petty offenses which pissed so many people off. Many people, myself included liked Andy but after some years the novelty wore off.

I hear from reliable sources that he continued his ways back in the UK.

Back to the subject, many of us know who the real perpetrator was in the case. I wonder if he has returned to duty?

Interesting, I assume the name of the "real perpetrator" has been passed on to the british police along with copies of his DNA so that he could be eliminated from police inquiries?

[p1p]

Back to the subject, many of us know who the real perpetrator was in the case. I wonder if he has returned to duty?

I believe he has. But please don't discuss this on the forum. We all know he has "contacts."

I am about to edit Blinky's post above to remove potentially troublesome, not to say possibly libelous comments about a named individual..