Mystery Surrounds Briton’s Death

[george]

Mystery surrounds Briton’s death

PHUKET: -- Mystery surrounds the death of Briton Stephen Harris, leaving his family saddened and confused.

Mr Harris’s body was was discovered at the Monte Carlo Hotel on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd on October 29. (See Gazette Online story below.)

At that time Pol Lt Col Boonlert Onklang of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that an initial inspection by a doctor indicated the cause of death was a broken neck, and that Mr Harris, 46, had also suffered a dislocated right elbow.

Mr Harris’s remains were sent to Bangkok for autopsy before being repatriated to Britain in the middle of November.

However, when the body arrived in the UK, his family were unhappy at the cause of death – heart failure – as stated in the death certificate that accompanied his body.

Speaking with the Gazette yesterday, Angela Farmer, Mr Harris’s sister, said “The death certificate that came back with Stephen said that he had died of a heart attack.

“I wasn’t happy about that, so the coroner for Worcester [where Mr Harris lived] has opened an inquest.

“We’ve been told that Stephen did not have a heart attack, and we’re still waiting for the results from [a second] autopsy, although Stephen has now been buried. [The coroner here] can’t find a cause of death.”

Mrs Farmer said that Worcestershire County Coroner Victor Round, whose area includes Kidderminster, where Mr Harris lived, “...wasn’t happy [with the autopsy results from Thailand]. He is trying to get information from the Thai coroner who supposedly did an autopsy, but information is very slow coming through [from Thailand].”

Mrs Farmer also said that Mr Round found no fractures or dislocations to any part of Mr Harris’s body.

She added, “It’s been a very distressing time for all of us, as you can understand. [The Foreign Office] haven’t been of much help and it’s very hard to take, because we still don’t know the cause of his death.”

Ian Harding, a coroner’s official working under Mr Round, told the Gazette that an inquest was opened into Mr Harris’s death on November 23 and will remain open until inquiries have been made with the Foreign Office and the Thai agencies involved. He declined to comment further on the case.

Despite the fact that the body has been returned to the family, with a death certificate, police in Patong say they still have not received the official autopsy report.

Col Boonlert told the Gazette today that he is still waiting for the report to come from the Royal Thai Police Institute of Forensic Medicine (IFM) in Bangkok.

All he has received so far, he said, is a vague verbal notification that the cause of death was “failure of the circulatory system”.

In the meantime, investigators continue trying to puzzle out what happened in Mr Harris’s hotel room, Col Boonlert said. “We are still trying to find out who was with him on that day.

“One man who was among the last to see him didn’t appear aggressive or strong enough to kill someone this way [by breaking his neck].

“We have interviewed a friend called Peter, and the maid and the owner of the guest house. We are still trying to find other witnesses, but it’s not easy, because the bar was closed on that day.

“We have a list of people who knew him, but we have yet to speak with all of them.

“We are also waiting for the autopsy result. We have asked the IFM when they will send us the result, but have had no reply yet. We may have to wait a few months.”

--Phuket Gazette 2004-12-11

Original Phuket Gazette story:

Police probe death of Briton

PATONG: -- Police are investigating the death of a Briton, Stephen Harris, 46, born in Birmingham, whose body was found in his room at the Monte Carlo Hotel on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd on October 29 at around 1 pm.

Speaking to the Gazette today, Pol Lt Col Boonlert Onklang of Kathu Police Station said that, according to a doctor who made an initial examination of the body, Mr Harris’s neck and right elbow were broken.

Col Boonlert also said that Mr Harris was last seen alive at around 10 pm last Tuesday (October 26) at the Monte Carlo Hotel, where he had been a guest for about a month.

Mr Harris’s body, which is currently in Patong Hospital, is due to be collected by British Embassy staff and taken to Bangkok for an autopsy.

--Phuket Gazette 2004-11-01

[Ijustwannateach]

Hope they don't try to pass this one off as suicide...

[sriracha john]

It's an epidemic:

American dies in plunge from apartment roof

Published on December 14, 2004

A 49-year-old American man plunged to his death yesterday from the top of a 12-storey apartment building in Bangkok’s Sathorn district.

Mark Bennet Gambell was found dead at around 9 am on the ground floor beside Maple House, a residential complex, after he was seen relaxing at a landscaped park on the roof. Police were investigating whether his fall was a suicide or an accident.

“He appeared normal. I don’t think this was a suicide,” the building’s electricity technician Wasant Banterngjai said.

Wasant said he saw Gambell unwinding in the roof-terrace park before the incident. “After I came down, I heard a thud like something had fallen down so I went to check and found him,” he said, adding that he immediately alerted police.

Wasant said there were indications that Gambell might have tried to cling onto an iron sheet attached to a sewerage pipe before he fell. “Normally, the sheet was firmly fixed. But now, I could see that it has been pried away [from the pipe],” the technician said.

Maple House officials prohibited reporters from entering the compound, insisting it was private property.

[thaibebop]

It seems like a lot of people like to kill themselves while in Thailand. I thought Seattle was bad.

[sriracha john]

except that these two certainly have the potential for having been murdered... but then, that's not unknown in Seattle either.

[farang24]

Maybe we should rename Land of Smiles to Land of Suicides.

[sriracha john]

LOSE = Land of Suspicious Endings...

[Jimbo]

............another one bites the dust

[Rhys]

Kee Kwai.. all around.. best wishes on the investigation...but nothing will come of it as the Thai police are "crime scence developers" truly frustrating for the family back in England...