Yet Another Unsolved Farang Murder Case

[sriracha john]

September 6, 2005

The killers of a 23-year-old Australian backpacker who also stabbed and raped his girlfriend in northern Thailand in 2000 might never be caught, Thailand's top forensic expert said on Tuesday.

Australians Kelvin Bourke and his girlfriend Sheri McFarlane, then 25, were attacked on February 3, 2000, while camping in the Doi Angkhang National Park in Chiang Mai's Fang district, 850 kilometres north of Bangkok.

Expert Porntip Rojanasunan said the criminal investigation went cold after two hill tribesmen were cleared on appeal last year after they were initially sentenced to death.

The scientist, who assisted in the men's appeal, fears there is now insufficient evidence to find the real attackers.

Porntip said poor crime scene investigative work by Thai police at the time probably meant valuable clues went uncovered and were now lost.

"This case remains unsolved," she said adding that it might stay this way.

She said Thai police bungled their investigation in their haste to score a conviction and prosecutors had also mishandled DNA evidence.

Reports at the time said Bourke had been shot in the chest while attempting to snatch the weapon from the two attackers. He died shortly after.

McFarlane tried to placate her assailants and handed over cameras, cash and other valuables worth more than $1000.

But despite her pleas they stabbed and raped her.

McFarlane was later rescued by a park ranger who discovered her wandering around about half a kilometre from the scene of the attack.

Thai police, under pressure from the Thai government, quickly rounded up 10 suspects.

Detectives paraded them before McFarlane at her bedside at a local hospital.

Reports said McFarlane had not positively identified anyone in the lineup.

But Thai police later charged Chinyong Sae Yang, 19, and Inthorn Sae Jong, 20. They alleged that Chinyong had confessed.

In June 2002, the Fang Provincial Court found the two men guilty and sentenced them to death.

Both men had pleaded innocent through the trial and appeal, and said they had been beaten by police before they confessed. They also claimed police had threatened their families.

[chuchok]

Disgusting.

[barryofthailand]

I can't say what i think, but what do you expect?

Barry

[chuchok]

The only thing that I would say in the Thai police favour, is that they do not discriminate.Exactly the same thing could have happened if it was Tha people that were the victims.

[Scott]

Very sad, this case has too many victims. The dead, raped and wrongfully accused.

[DavieA]

Very sad, this case has too many victims.  The dead, raped and wrongfully accused.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

MMM very sad. Sorry to the victims, and the accused alike. The poor accused are probably just scape goats so the Thai authorities can avoid losing face and say they've done something about it!

Another example of the Thais complacency for peoples lives.

[astral]

Does anyone keep a record of how many of these "unsolved" cases there are?

[sua yai]

There's still one going on, as far as I'm aware in Hua Hin.

Toby Charnaud's remains were found on his wife's property in Petchaburi district. The ex wife and her family are still in police custody.

That one didn't make the headlines on this forum. DNA evidence etc identified him. He was cremated at the main temple here in July.

A really sorry story as he wouldn't have said "boo to a goose".

RIP.

[sriracha john]

Thank you for sharing, sua yai. I recalled reading about this in the paper awhile ago and yes, it somehow missed being covered here. It's an amazing coincidence how events mirrored the story he wrote. Thanks for personalizing it. Hopefully, someday, justice can be done in his case. Condolescenses to his family and friends. Rest in Peace...

Author’s death mirrors tale

Published on May 23, 2005

The father of a British murder victim flew back to Britain from Thailand last night after lodging a complaint of murder against a former Thai bar girl and her five accomplices, who allegedly clubbed his son to death and buried his remains in a national park.

Jeremy Charnaud, 67, went to the prosecutor’s office in Phetchaburi to insist he become a joint plaintiff against the ex-wife of his son Toby Charnaud, 41, whose burnt remains were found buried in park land in Kaeng Krachan, near the Burma border.

Shortly before he died Charnaud had won a prize in a short-story competition in which he wrote about a Briton who was murdered at the hands of his Thai bar girl wife.

Panada Charnaud, 35, and five others, all from her province of Yasothon, have been charged with the murder of Charnaud, a former gentleman farmer and qualified land agent from West Kington, Chippenham, England.

Charnaud’s story “Rainfall” won him Bt3,000 in a competition run a Bangkok magazine.

It was a tale of a British tourist called “Guy” who flies to Thailand and falls hopelessly in love with a Thai bar girl called “Fon” and moves in with her.

Then the problems start. First the money problems from her demands, then the many nights when she did not return home.

The couple decided to move to Hua Hin and open a bar business. The relationship got worse with his wife sleeping with customers from the bar.

Eventually Guy decides to kill his wife. But the Thai man he hires as the assassin is, without his knowledge, one of his wife’s many secret lovers, and the gun is turned on him.

In real life Charnaud met his wife in a bar in Bangkok. They moved together to Hua Hin where they opened the Rainbow Bar. According to his family, Panada built up massive gambling debts.

He paid out some Bt800,000 to settle them as part of the divorce agreement and removed her name from his company.

Thai police say that as Panada had a five-year-old son Daniel she stood to gain Charnaud’s house and property through him but he would have to die first.

[Sphere]

Does anyone keep a record of how many of these "unsolved" cases there are?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I would hazard a guess, there's likely a proportionately larger number of unsolved cases where the victims were Thai. The victims' nationality is certainly not a factor as much as the authorities will (or lack of it) to solve cases in which there isn't any significant mileage to be derived.

[texan_cowboy]

never have real humans seen such trash I just wonder why such people would promote this kind of garbage?

this post is just the kind of thing that would stop promotion of a good refernence manual.

who is the person that would start this and why?

I thought this was supposed to be a help forum not a hate forum, looks like you mr. john are part of the problem with this silly planet not part of the solution. shame on you!

what is your agenda?

Trash? horrid kind of post you must be a real sic person

no help here!

thanks for the ugly info.

[sriracha john]

What on Earth are you babbling about, Tex?

You don't find the murder of foreigners to be something of a concern?

Can you explain your disgruntlement in a coherent manner?

[helitool]

The following are the number of intentional homicides per thousand by firearms. If you go to www.nationmaster.com you will find most any statistical crime comparisons you can imagine!

1. South Africa 0.71 per 1000 people

2. Colombia 0.50 per 1000 people

3. Thailand 0.30 per 1000 people

4. Zimbabwe 0.04 per 1000 people

5. Mexico 0.03 per 1000 people

6. Belarus 0.03 per 1000 people

7. Costa Rica 0.03 per 1000 people

8. United States 0.02 per 1000 people

When all types of homicide are included the USA moves up to #4 position.

[bakachan]

thanks for the ugly info.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

you are an ostrich. go put on your rose colored glasses and

bury your head

those stats on mexico are really hard to believe. i've worked with

mexicans that say many murders (executions) are carried out by the federal police

themselves.

his agenda is to INFORM

"stop promotion of a reference manual" ???

me's think your first language is not english

Edited September 8, 2005 by bakachan

[gievali]

mr. john are part of the problem with this silly planet not part of the solution. shame on you!

.....what is your agenda?

Trash? horrid kind of post you must be a real sic person

no help here!

thanks for the ugly info.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hehehe

Cowboy did your horse kick you on the teeth ? You are on a board about T H A I L A N D, D O Y O U C O P Y T H A T ?

[usatrader]

The following are the number of intentional homicides per thousand by firearms. If you go to www.nationmaster.com you will find most any statistical crime comparisons you can imagine!

1. South Africa 0.71 per 1000 people

2. Colombia 0.50 per 1000 people

3. Thailand 0.30 per 1000 people

4. Zimbabwe 0.04 per 1000 people

5. Mexico 0.03 per 1000 people

6. Belarus 0.03 per 1000 people

7. Costa Rica 0.03 per 1000 people

8. United States 0.02 per 1000 people

When all types of homicide are included the USA moves up to #4 position.

My good Sir, though I have no problem with your general premise that the United is subject to being among the G8 industrialized nations to having the highest rate for Murder be it by firearm or otherwise.

I would however kindly appreaciate, given we yanks get bashed and blamed for just about all worlds ills and things these days, some decorum of accuracy and current reality when one post data.

First, the data, on this site, at mininum for all nations, is between 5 years to 6 years old making it nearly irrlevant.

In the case of the United States it only has 1999 data, which is even pre Ivan the Terrible W Bush by 2 years. In that period, the US population has grown by nearly 60 million which is equal in size to that of Thailand at least that which is offically reported.

Data that old is unreliable as you will see below.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/hmrt.htm#longterm

Homicide rates recently declined to levels last seen in the late 1960's

* The homicide rate nearly doubled from the mid 1960's to the late 1970's.

* In 1980, it peaked at 10.2 per 100,000 (.0102/1000) population and subsequently fell off to 8.0 per 100,000 (.008/100)in 1984.

* It rose again in the late 1980's and early 1990's to another peak in 1991 of 9.8 per 100,000 (0098/1000).

* From 1992 to 2000, the rate declined sharply. Since then, the rate has been stable

Based on data for the years 1976-2002 -

* Blacks are disproportionately represented as both homicide victims and offenders. In terms of rates per 100,000, blacks are 6 times more likely to be victimized and 7 times more likely to commit homicide than are whites.

* Males represent three-quarters of homicide victims and nearly 90% of offenders. In terms of rates per 100,000, males are 3 times more likely to be killed, and almost 8 times more likely to commit homicide than are females.

* Approximately one-third of murder victims and almost half the offenders are under the age of 25. For both victims and offenders, the rate per 100,000 peaks in the 18-24 year-old age group

You will note a perspective tied to current reality shows a declining rate of violence that some even criticizes as the incarceration rates increase. Yet other say directly corresponds to decreases in violent crime and increasing of incarceration rates in the US. Where many states have adopted hibitual criminal laws that lock up multiple offenders up for many more years that in years past.

T HA T

IS

A LL!

[kidtongue]

Does anyone keep a record of how many of these "unsolved" cases there are?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It might be easier to keep track of the "solvved" cases

[sriracha john]

UPDATE

Hill-tribe men 'set up' for rape, murder of Aussies

Thai police set up two hill-tribe men to take the rap for the murder of Australian student Kelvin Bourke and the rape of his girlfriend Sheri McFarlane in northern Thailand in 2000.

Thailand's Supreme Court delivered a final appeal verdict in Chiang Mai on Monday, acquitting two men previously given the death sentence for the crimes.

The court said the police case against Sangthong sae Yang and Inthorn sae Jong, two Chinese Haw men now in their mid-20s, was flawed.

Judges said new evidence showed DNA extracted from both defendants' sperm did not match that found in the rape victim, McFarlane.

The DNA evidence was suppressed at their trial in Fang, which found the two guilty of murder and rape in July 2002 and sentenced them to death. Monday's ruling upheld a Court of Appeal decision in 2004 that overturned the original verdict.

Just as in the case of British backpacker Kirsty Jones, 23, who was murdered and raped in a guest house in Chiang Mai, police in the same year tried to clear up the case by picking on non-Thai nationals.

In both cases they used torture and ignored DNA evidence of sperm that proved the hill-tribe scapegoats innocent.

In the case of Jones, from Wales, a Karen guide was tortured and police even tried to extract sperm from him, possibly to place in the crime scene.

Their plot was exposed after the Guides Association of Chiang Mai marched on the police station.

But the Chinese Haw suspects arrested by police for the attack on Bourke and McFarlane, from Melbourne, had no such organisation to support them and spent two years on death row.

Bourke and McFarlane were camping near the northern Thai town of Fang, in Chiang Mai province, when they were attacked by four men on February 3, 2003.

Bourke was beaten and then shot trying to defend his girlfriend.

McFarlane was raped and brutally beaten but escaped after pretending to be dead.

Based on alleged confessions, Yang and Jong were convicted and sentenced to death despite the fact that the DNA sperm was not theirs and there was photographic evidence that they were many hours away from the murder scene at the time of the incident.

The police case against the hill-tribe men, both in their mid-20s and descendants of the Chinese Kuomintang army who fled the Cultural Revolution, was based on a controversial identification of one of the pair by McFarlane just days after the attack.

The case was the subject of a documentary expose on Thai television in which police were accused of threatening to kill the families of the two young men if they did not confess to the crime - and stage a public re-enactment for the media.

Despite what the defence say is overwhelming evidence of their innocence, the prosecution has appealed against their release, a common tactic in Thailand used to wear down defendants and lawyers.

The men's lawyer, Wirachai Wangkahaemsuk, said: "The case against them is so weak that they should drop this appeal and pay compensation."

He described his clients as scapegoats for a crime that local police were under enormous pressure to resolve quickly, because of damage to the tourism industry and a planned visit to the region by Thailand's Queen Sirikit.

Bourke was the third Australian murdered there in 11 months.

At the time, the investigation into the murder and rape was criticised as being incompetent.

In the case of the murder of Jones, a British Embassy official was quoted in the Nation newspaper in Bangkok as describing the investigation as shambolic.

The investigations into the murder and rape of Jones, the murder of Bourke, and the rape of McFarlane appear as if they will never be satisfactorily completed.

- The Australian

[khall64au]

Almost a movie plot, if not so tragic. At least the wrongly accused achieved some justice (?).

Will the true criminals be found - we can only hope so?!

Sincere wishes to all families involved ...

[sriracha john]

Hilltribe 'scapegoats' cleared of killing

Two hilltribe men were acquitted yesterday of the murder of an Australian student and the rape of his girlfriend in a brutal attack in a national park north of Chiang Mai in February 2000.

The Supreme Court verdict, read out in the provincial court in Chiang Mai, cited conflicting prosecution evidence. It upheld a Court of Appeal ruling acquitting Sangthong sae Yang and Inthorn sae Jong, two Chinese Haw men now in their mid-20s, which overturned the original lower court ruling in 2002 that sentenced both men to death.

According to facts verified by the final acquittal verdict, DNA signatures extracted from both defendants' sperm did not match that found in the rape victim.

This vital evidence was not available to both the lower court and the Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court also acknowledged an additional piece of evidence, which was supplied to the Court of Appeal. Pictures of a village meeting showed that both defendants were away from the crime scene - a hilltop in Doi Angkhang in Fang - on the night of the crime: February 3, 2000.

Melbourne backpacker Kelvin Bourke, 23, was shot by two young assailants while camping with his girlfriend Sheri MacFarlane in an isolated part of the national park. McFarlane was raped and brutally beaten, but managed to escape after pretending to be dead.

The original verdict, by a judge in Fang, was contentious. Chiang Mai lawyer Wirachai Wangkaheamsuk said two years ago that the only reason prosecutors appealed the release of the two men was because the case involved foreign tourists.

Wirachai described his clients as "peh rebarp" - scapegoats - for a crime that local police were under enormous pressure to resolve quickly.

"The case against the men is so weak that the latest appeal should be dropped altogether. They should be given compensation for the ordeal they have endured," he said at the time.

Yesterday, the families of the two hilltribe men were delighted to be finally relieved of a huge burden that had seen their sons spend two years on Death Row.

But down in Melbourne, the MacFarlane family is hardly likely to be happy with the outcome from a police case that was condemned as incompetent almost from the start.

- The Nation

[LaoPo]

UPDATE

Hill-tribe men 'set up' for rape, murder of Aussies

Bourke and McFarlane were camping near the northern Thai town of Fang, in Chiang Mai province, when they were attacked by four men on February 3, 2003.

Bourke was beaten and then shot trying to defend his girlfriend.

McFarlane was raped and brutally beaten but escaped after pretending to be dead.

Based on alleged confessions, Yang and Jong were convicted and sentenced to death despite the fact that the DNA sperm was not theirs and there was photographic evidence that they were many hours away from the murder scene at the time of the incident.

1. No word about the 4 men, killing the boy and beating and raping the girl.

2. Two completely innocent hill tribe men convicted (no sperm traces and with photographic evidence that they were hours away from the scene) to death.

3. And no word about the policemen who set the 2 guys up.

What a drama for the killed young man, the girl, the two innocent guys and families involved.

But, better late than spending the rest of their lives in Prison.

I hope they'll find the 4 attackers and bring them AND responsible policemen to justice, but, I know.....TIT.

LaoPo

[Scott]

One of the big concerns that I have with bad investigations is that it means that somewhere out there on the loose is a murderer and rapist. Unlike crimes of passion, these folks are very, very likely to commit the same crimes again.

Throwing just anyone in jail is a serious injustice for all. Actually trying to set-up people is particularly henious.

[qualtrough]

The following are the number of intentional homicides per thousand by firearms. If you go to www.nationmaster.com you will find most any statistical crime comparisons you can imagine!

1. South Africa 0.71 per 1000 people

2. Colombia 0.50 per 1000 people

3. Thailand 0.30 per 1000 people

4. Zimbabwe 0.04 per 1000 people

5. Mexico 0.03 per 1000 people

6. Belarus 0.03 per 1000 people

7. Costa Rica 0.03 per 1000 people

8. United States 0.02 per 1000 people

When all types of homicide are included the USA moves up to #4 position.

Thailand does have a high rate of violent crime, but I would be very suspicious of these stats on Nationmaster. There are a number of discrepancies in the stats they present that call into question how accurate they are. I am sorry to be lazy, but if you google death by firearms or nationmaster on the forum you are likely to find several threads that raise that issue.

[Carmine6]

This thread is 2 years old, so any stats are already outdated.

[peter991]

Two questions:

1) Will the police who framed the 2 hill-tribe young men be punished?

2) Will he 2 young hill-tribe men be compensated for heir 2 years of wrongful imprisonment?

I think I know the answers - but I thought I would ask.

Peter

[Krungthepian]

Two questions:

1) Will the police who framed the 2 hill-tribe young men be punished?

2) Will he 2 young hill-tribe men be compensated for heir 2 years of wrongful imprisonment?

I think I know the answers - but I thought I would ask.

Peter

Just in regard to the above. A lawyer for the two hilltribe men - Wirachai of Chiang Mai - said yesterday (Sept 4) he will now lodge an application for compensation with the Justice Ministry's human rights division. I think that should have a pretty good chance of success. How much they might eventually get, however, is another question.

The two young men have been out of jail for three years, fortunately, but it was the original four years that they really suffered - including two years on Death Row in Bang Kwang.

They appear to have been targeted by police because the victim/survivor (MacFarlane) said one of TWO attackers was quite short. And Inthorn is very short. Sangthong, the other young man, was vulnerable perhaps because he is Chinese Haw (descendant of Kuomintang) and did not have Thai citizenship. However, they were lucky because a wealthy Thai woman who has connections to their village (Ban Luang) helped fund a good lawyer for them. And the lawyer is a competent and very decent man.

Note that the report in The Australian this morning had a small error - saying FOUR attackers. I have spoken to MacFarlane (in Melbourne) and looked into this case and I'm pretty sure it was just two attackers.

As to who they were.. that area is adjacent to the Burma border and it allegedly gets regular forays by people running drugs across the border. The sad part is Bourke and MacFarlane camped in an isolated part of the Doi Angkhang national park. Bourke had a sister-in-law from Fang, I believe, and was touring the country using that as his base. He may not have known that some bad people transit through those parts. Or at least they probably did until the so-called 'War on Drugs' in early 2003.

The interesting aspect of some of these cases is the competence and ethnics of the police. One of the most important things the Surayud government can do in its remaining time in office is try to reform the archaic police structure. In particular it needs outsiders (anyone but police) to deal with complaints, as has been happening in the bulk of the western world for the best part of 20 years.

Only then, will complaints about these types of injustices be better dealt with. Overseas you could probably mount a case against police for a case such as this for malicious prosecution, whereas here they virtually let tme have free reign. The justice system badly needs a cleaner and more efficeint police force. At present you have a vast load of these sorts of controversial matters going to the Law Society of Thailand and the National Human Rights Commission, but they could circumvent that by dealing with the problem at source. Let's hope they can manage some of those much needed changes while Surayud is still in office.

[qualtrough]

The following are the number of intentional homicides per thousand by firearms. If you go to www.nationmaster.com you will find most any statistical crime comparisons you can imagine!

1. South Africa 0.71 per 1000 people

2. Colombia 0.50 per 1000 people

3. Thailand 0.30 per 1000 people

4. Zimbabwe 0.04 per 1000 people

5. Mexico 0.03 per 1000 people

6. Belarus 0.03 per 1000 people

7. Costa Rica 0.03 per 1000 people

8. United States 0.02 per 1000 people

When all types of homicide are included the USA moves up to #4 position.

Thailand does have a high rate of violent crime, but I would be very suspicious of these stats on Nationmaster. There are a number of discrepancies in the stats they present that call into question how accurate they are. I am sorry to be lazy, but if you google death by firearms or nationmaster on the forum you are likely to find several threads that raise that issue.

Those statistics are provided by each respective Government to the U.N. Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, covering the period 1998 - 2000 (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention).

As such I would consider them a fairly good indicator for the time period they relate to.

More information on how they are gathered is available here...

http://www.uncjin.org/Statistics/WCTS/wcts.html

Regardless of the source of the data there are a number of serious internal inconsistencies that just don't add up. Not just for Thailand, but for other countries as well. There are many, many steps between gathering the data, crunching it, and the final product, etc. & etc. If you want to find out what I am talking about search for nationmaster on this forum. I will give you one example right now: It is bizarre that the Philippines doesn't even make the top 8!! I have lived there and studied that country (not just the women) and that is very fishy.

[Jimjim]

The stats above from nationmaster have been talked about many times. The consensus has always been that the stat referring to firearm deaths per capita putting Thailand at number 3 is incorrect. Somebody must have misplaced a decimal point. If you see the total murders per capita for Thailand here, you see is at #14 for murders per capita, a high number indeed. However, it is .08 per 1000 people. Okay? That's total murders per capita. Then, look at firearm murders per capita here.

You'll see it's impossible that Thailand could be number 3 for firearm murders per capita as they put it at .3 per thousand people. It doesn't make sense, and neither does the stat for South Africa. Total number of murders per capita is .08 per 1000 and total number of firearm murders per capita is .3 per 1000. How can the number of murders by firearm per capita be more than the total number of murders per capita? It just doesn't make sense. South Africa's stats have the same problem. And they weren't taking the firearm number out of the total murders number, as it clearly indications it's per 1000 population even with the firearm murders per capita in the wording at the bottom of the page. So, I think we can give this talk a rest. I've seen it talked about in probably over 10 threads.

On the subject of farang crime in the news, there is a story that's on other Thailand related sites but not this one. Anyway, a very interesting story that I hope they'll pick up on thaivisa is the one about the British man who had been wrongly accused along with his Thai girlfriend of making illegal drugs at a shop in Bangkok. After six years in jail, they finally both got out and are declared innocent. Classic case of wrong place wrong time. They were originally sentenced to death. I never get how one can be sentenced to death for drug crimes, even selling relatively harmless party drugs (ecstacy), in Thailand and then some murderers get out after 20 years. It makes so sense whatsoever.

Edit: Just tried to clear up some points.

Edited September 5, 2007 by Jimjim

[Krungthepian]

On the subject of farang crime in the news, there is a story that's on other Thailand related sites but not this one. Anyway, a very interesting story that I hope they'll pick up on thaivisa is the one about the British man who had been wrongly accused along with his Thai girlfriend of making illegal drugs at a shop in Bangkok. After six years in jail, they finally both got out and are declared innocent. Classic case of wrong place wrong time. They were originally sentenced to death. I never get how one can be sentenced to death for drug crimes, even selling relatively harmless party drugs (ecstacy), in Thailand and then some murderers get out after 20 years. It makes so sense whatsoever.

=======

In regard to the case mentioned here, I think the writer might be referring to Jody Aggett, the Brit

who was released last week.. AFP (Agence France Presse) did a yarn on him recently.. I think his case might have been one of many being reviewed now by the interim government. Good news.

Briton freed from Thai prison as court quashes drug conviction

AFP 5-9-07

BANGKOK - A British man sentenced to death on drugs charges in Thailand said Wednesday he was "ecstatic" after the Supreme Court overturned his conviction, clearing the way for his return home.

Jody Aggett, 30, was arrested in November 2001 along with his pregnant Thai girlfriend after police uncovered a drugs operation in the Bangkok apartment building where they were staying.

They denied knowing anything about the ecstasy production upstairs but were convicted and sentenced to death.

After two years on death row, their sentences were commuted to life in prison and the Supreme Court has now overturned their convictions completely.

Aggett was handed over to immigration officials on Tuesday, officials said.

"He's been released from prison but he's still held by immigration officials," British embassy spokesman Daniel Painter told AFP.

Thai immigration officials said they were working with the embassy to sort out remaining issues surrounding his visa and his release.

When asked about his release date, an immigration officer passed his cellphone to Aggett, who said he was told he could return home on Sunday.

"I'm ecstatic really," he told AFP.

"I'm going, but I think I'm being deported as well," he said before the officer took back the cellphone.

Aggett's son Ryan was born while he and his girlfriend, identified by lawyers as Christin Lo, were in prison.

Aggett's parents came to take the baby back to Britain, where they have been raising him in Aggett's home town of Swindon. Ryan is now five.

Lo has already been released and was staying with her family in Bangkok, officials said.

The Supreme Court overturned the conviction because prosecutors had failed to present any evidence against them, said Catherine Wolthuizen, chief executive of Fair Trials Abroad, a London-based group that helped with his appeal.

"There was never any grounds to find them guilty," she said.

"Jody was convicted on the unsworn evidence of an unknown police informant, who was never brought before the court and never named," she said.

"Moreover, this evidence never even implicated Jody and his girlfriend," she added.

The appeals hearing had been held up in part by Thailand's political turmoil over the past two years, which had increased the caseload before the Supreme Court and forced repeated delays of the hearing, Wolthuizen said.

[sriracha john]

On the subject of farang crime in the news, there is a story that's on other Thailand related sites but not this one. Anyway, a very interesting story that I hope they'll pick up on thaivisa is the one about the British man who had been wrongly accused along with his Thai girlfriend of making illegal drugs at a shop in Bangkok. After six years in jail, they finally both got out and are declared innocent. Classic case of wrong place wrong time. They were originally sentenced to death. I never get how one can be sentenced to death for drug crimes, even selling relatively harmless party drugs (ecstacy), in Thailand and then some murderers get out after 20 years. It makes so sense whatsoever.

=======

In regard to the case mentioned here, I think the writer might be referring to Jody Aggett, the Brit

who was released last week.. AFP (Agence France Presse) did a yarn on him recently.. I think his case might have been one of many being reviewed now by the interim government. Good news.

Briton freed from Thai prison as court quashes drug conviction

AFP 5-9-07

There is a separate thaivisa thread on this case:

Drugs Case Brit Released