Girlfriend Aided Aldhouse's Escape From Phuket, Thailand

[webfact]

Girlfriend aided Aldhouse's escape from Phuket, Thailand

PHUKET: The girlfriend of fugitive murder suspect Lee Aldhouse played a key role in helping the Englishman escape Thailand, Phuket Police said earlier today.

Chalong Police Inspector Jaran Bangprasert said the girlfriend, a native of the northeastern province of Udon Thani, disappeared with Aldhouse from their shared room on Soi Khok Makham in Rawai soon after the murder of 23-year-old American Dashawn Longfellow was reported on August 14.

A search of the premises by police, after a warrant was issued, found the house empty and the door still open, he said.

All police units were immediately put on high alert, initially leading police to believe that the Englishman was still hiding out somewhere on the island.

It has since been revealed that Mr Aldhouse and his girlfriend hired a taxi to take them from Phuket to Koh Samui. Along the way they got a bus to Bangkok, then made their way to the Klong Yai checkpoint at the Cambodian border.

Mr Aldhouse was able to depart the country into Cambodia at the remote checkpoint, which has no on-line connection with Immigration headquarter's database.

Immigration Police only realized Aldhouse had slipped out of the country six hours after the fact.

The unnamed girlfriend, who returned to Bangkok by bus, was later picked up for questioning by police. She confessed to her role in aiding Mr Aldhouse's escape and told investigators of his plan to return to his native England.

However, British sources familiar with the case told the Gazette that Mr Aldhouse fled the UK years before, after serving two years in a Birmingham jail for his part in an armed robbery. He served two years of a five-year sentence for illegal gun possession, the source said.

Mr Aldhouse worked in Spain as a doorman for several bars before leaving for Thailand in 2006, the source said.

Police will now seek the extradition of Mr Aldhouse.

One sticking point could be the fact that Mr Aldhouse is wanted on charges of premeditated murder. As such, he could conceivably face the death penalty if convicted in Thailand.

In practice, Thai courts almost always commute a death penalty sentence to life imprisonment for murder suspects who confess.

However, other fugitives from Thai justice who come from countries that oppose the death penalty have used this fact to successfully fight off extradition.

One case is that of Belgian Sam Van Treek, arrested in 2004 at the age of 24 and charged with the murder of Phuket-based female dive instructor Chompoonut Jeab Kobram, who was stabbed 48 times in Mr Van Treek’s Pattaya apartment.

Six years later, continuing attempts by the Thai government to have the Belgian extradited have proven fruitless and he continues to live as a free man in his native country.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-08-28

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[brahmburgers]

Of course, the g.f. will be charged with harboring a fugitive and/or helping a fugitive escape justice. Oops, how silly of me, almost forgot, Thailand has no such laws. A Thai attorney told me so, with a grin and a wink.

The Klong Yai checkpoint ought to get a computer that works - same for other border crossing points.

Of course Cambodian authorities (at the airport) aren't going to know about fugitives from Thailand, because the two countries are like feuding 6 year olds.

And the news that the Belgian murder suspect is dallying around in Europe, carefree as a titmouse, is troubling. At least Belgian authorities can do something tangible to keep the creep under wraps - can't they? If he had killed my daughter, I'd be over there on the next plane and personally make his last moments of life scary and painful.

[Tropicalevo]

Well - it looks like we all now know how to get out of Thailand in a hurry :-)

[Eazy-Going]

For those on the other thread pertaining to Aldhouse and his innocence, or innocent until proven guilty, he sure made a concerted effort to get out of the Kingdom for an innocent man eh? An innocent man surely would not have gone to these lengths.

Also, wouldn't it be wonderful if such previous crimes could be included on peoples passports or some sort of biometric ID card and Thailand could kick out,/stop entrance of all the undesirables that give the clean, honest 'farang' a bad name? I mean the guy had a past record of armed robbery etc, not a petty crime in any country. It would make life living here so much better IMO and we would not be looked down on with scorn by many hi-ranking Thais.

[Thaddeus]

he sure made a concerted effort to get out of the Kingdom for an innocent man eh? An innocent man surely would not have gone to these lengths.

Unfortunately, in Thailand just being suspected of a crime as serious as this would even make an innocent man get the hel_l out of Dodge as fast as possible.

[jhawks09]

An innocent man would have no knowledge of the crime and wouldn't have gone anywhere. He'd have been in bed asleep, not on a middle of the night escape to

Cambodia and the UK. ....I would think.

[Mitker]

One case is that of Belgian Sam Van Treek, arrested in 2004 at the age of 24 and charged with the murder of Phuket-based female dive instructor Chompoonut Jeab Kobram, who was stabbed 48 times in Mr Van Treek's Pattaya apartment.

Six years later, continuing attempts by the Thai government to have the Belgian extradited have proven fruitless and he continues to live as a free man in his native country .

------------------------------------------

A slightly more serious reporting would have mentioned that he's been jailed in Belgium after being released on bail in Thailand.

http://www.dhnet.be/...assassinat.html

http://www.hln.be/hl...-vriendin.dhtml

Belgian justice officers were sent in Thailand to collect datas. The man always claimed he was innocent. As a preventive measure, he's been jailed several times in Belgium since he fled Thailand. Recently, he's been released under restrictive conditions since the court stated the evidences were insufficient.

It's up to everyone to estimate where's the greatest chance of the case being tried fairly.

Edited August 29, 2010 by Mitker

[NaiGreg]

he sure made a concerted effort to get out of the Kingdom for an innocent man eh? An innocent man surely would not have gone to these lengths.

Unfortunately, in Thailand just being suspected of a crime as serious as this would even make an innocent man get the hel_l out of Dodge as fast as possible.

This is patently false. Pure hysteria.