Ekkapan Kaewkla, 26, was charged with the manslaughter of 22-year-old Stephen Ashton following the incident on the popular island of Koh Phangan.

He could serve as little as two years or even get a suspended sentence for the killing, a term which is often handed down to those who co-operate fully with courts.

Kaewkla told a court on the neighbouring island of Koh Samui: "I was aiming at someone else but the foreigner got in the way."

He turned to the westerners in the court and said: “Sorry”.

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