British backpacker arrested for suspected murder of fellow Britons at Koh Tao

[webfact]

Six suspects in murder of two British tourists, says police commissioners

BANGKOK: -- Eighth Region police commissioner Pol-Lt Gen Panya Mamen disclosed Wednesday that six persons were suspected in the brutal murder of the two British tourists in KohTao island off Surat Thani coast on Sunday.

Their DNA samples are now being examined by forensic police if any of them matching DNA samples collected from the scene of murder,and from the two murdered tourists.

He did not elaborate the nationalities of the six suspects, but said the result will be known late today.

He also said a report today saying a British backpacker was arrested on being suspected in the murder of his fellow Britons, he said he was just summoned for questioning as a witness.

No charge has yet been imposed on him.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/six-suspects-murder-two-british-tourists-says-police-commissioners/


-- Thai PBS 2014-09-17

[alanrchase]

Apparently in the Thai language news the blood stained clothes were hidden in his luggage, also the guy had been raped too plus the girl had blonde hair in her hands, it's going to get interesting now for sure

So when initially interviewed his luggage wasn't searched and he's been carrying blood stained clothes around for a couple of days ?

If it is him he deserves to be caught.

Haven't got through all the posts yet but did they not interview one foreigner with injuries and conflicting statements and another foreigner left the island quickly as of yesterdays posts?

[arthurwait]

winnerinsix, on 17 Sept 2014 - 15:01, said:

To me, the fact there was no robbery, made it likely there was farang involvement... right from day one.

Both man and woman were raped, supposedly. What does robbery have to do with rape or drug induced behaviour ?

[jakethesnake]

A blood stained hoe without any finger prints on it ?

so they have their culprit ?

Most ho's have multiple fingerprints everywhere, but it's rainy season.

[monk213]

Oh look, my suspicions may have been right all along. You do not just let someone go who knew the victims, who had cuts (one severe to the hand) and who was in the area at the time. Then he gets the earliest ferry off of the island and has blood stained clothes with his belongings... hmm. Lets get the DNA cracking, interrogate the hell out of him and get the British police involved, that should do the trick.

[WhamBam]

With so little actual 'evidence' they arrest this Brit and splash his name and face all over the media. Scary sh*t to be sure.

I do wish they would at least check some evidence before naming and showing they guys face.

[webfact]

Police Misidentify Murdered Britons in CCTV Footage
By Khaosod English


A photo given to the media by police that was mistakenly identified as the 2 British tourists who were murdered later that night on 15 Sept 2014.

BANGKOK — Police say they mistakenly identified two people in a photograph distributed to the media as the British tourists who were murdered on the popular island of Koh Tao on Monday.

Police initially said the still photograph taken from CCTV footage showed David Miller, 24, and Hanner Witheridge, 23, walking hand-in-hand away from a beachside party on Haat Sai Ri Beach on the night of 15 September. The pair was later found naked and beaten to death on the beach at 6:30am on 16 September.

But Pol.Col. Prachum Ruengthong, a commander of Pha Ngan Police who oversees Koh Tao island, said today that the photograph did not in fact depict the two victims.

According to Pol.Col. Prachum, the officers in charge of CCTV investigation "made their own assumption" and misidentified the pair. The police currently have no CCTV footage of the victims, he added.

Police earlier insisted the image showed the two murder victims, following several requests for confirmation by Khaosod English.

"There has been a lot of information [given to the media] through many channels," Pol.Col. Prachum explained. "Each officer gave their own piece of information. From now on, I will be the only person who gives information."

However, Pol.Col. Prachum said the other image given to the media of a man who police say behaved suspiciously near where the bodies were found is still valid. Police are still searching for the man, though the latest reports say two British friends of Mr. Miller are also being considered as possible suspects.

Three male migrant workers from Myanmar were cleared by police yesterday after being detained and interrogated about the incident.

The mis-identified photograph is one of several blunders made by Thai police and media investigating the murder case over the past few days.

Thai police previously gave unsubstantiated and bizarre statements about the murder, such as the claim that one of Mr. Miller's friends was a "gay man" who possibly committed the murder out of jealousy, and the announcement that the island had been “sealed off,” whereas in reality boats were permitted to leave the docks normally.

These claims were widely reported by major Thai media agencies.

Police also made contradictory statements about a British friend of Mr. Miller, who was initially considered a suspect, then released after questioning and declared unrelated to the murder, only to be detained again as a potential suspect this morning.

The bodies of Mr. Miller and Ms. Witheridge arrived in Bangkok yesterday for an autopsy.

Source: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1410941012


-- Khaosod English 2014-09-17

[fayou]

...when I read the story about the "blood-stained hoe" I kept thinking that that would not be a weapon of choice for a Thai, Myanmar or otherwise Asian killer. They are usually not strong enough to handle such a weapon.

This is exactly the way Thai - Isaan people kill pigs and cows . I 've seen this many times here where i live .

[allan michaud]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Terrible Terrible crime....

I am a little bemused by some of the comments here. To put in perspective, we currently have a govt, who's stated #1 objective is to get on top of corruption... And they appear to be all powerful at the moment... To me it appears, the vast majority of TV posters support that Govt.... Yet, many posters are talking about police corruption.... seriously? You can't have it both ways...


I think in this case, if we think logically, the fact that there was no robbery of phones or cash, kinda, to me anyway, points the finger of blame away from a local or a poor construction worker... There would be no motive whatsoever. I have thought, because of the lack of a robbery, that a farang was more than likely involved.... I thought maybe jilted lover... Tho, the revelations this afternoon are quite bizarre... maybe the person in custody is nuts? who knows? DNA will prove one way or the other if he has any involvement in this horrible crime... poor bloody kids...

Not sure what your first paragraph has to do with anything really, but regarding Thai's having no motive I think you are very wrong. The girl was probably raped and Thai's really go for blondes in a big way. A horny drunk Thai is just as likely as any other scenario right now.

As for the apparent suggestions this English kid did it, I have serious doubts given the BIB's amazing history and how utterly &lt;deleted&gt; Thai reporting is

[Bean87]

I grew up with Chris and Dave and know them both very well, and im totally shocked to what has happened.

First off, Chris would never do this, he has know Dave since 4 years old at Primary school in Jersey, they are like brothers.

Chris was helping the police the whole day on monday with cctv etc as I was in contact with him. He was questioned etc and released. His head was &lt;deleted&gt; up and he went to Bangkok on the Tuesday to meet his brother.

The guy who left the island on the same morning was an English guy that they met over there, thats all I know, I believe he is working with police also alongside Chris.

About the bloody trousers etc I know nothing about that because im not there, but I don't believe Chris is under arrrest, he is currently online on facebook and says he is in Bangkok and not Koh Tao like reported.

Thats all I know at the moment.

RIP Disco Dave and the poor girl you met bro.

[CockneyGit]

Plenty of armchair detectives and experts on here..!!

"Can't be the Brit", ''Must be migrants'', ''Drugs etc'', ''100% Jealous rage''

Get a grip people. Have you got nothing better to do?

None of us were there. Let the people who do this for a living get on with it. We may all get a surprise in the end.

[Fred Flinstone]

This seems more likely than one murderer /rapist depositing two semen samples between both victims after killing at least one first.

I can only guess this was a case of several men stumbling on them and due to a combination of perhaps Thai whiskey or Ya Ba (both?) the situation quickly turned to assault and rape , followed by murder.

[Wanderlust]

This could be a much more complicated scenario than is being presented at the moment - for example it is possible that the murdered couple were not killed by the same person, and the reported possible rape may not have been a rape, but hopefully the police have some DNA to help deal with that. Could it be a crime of passion? Maybe the male victim found the female victim with someone else and attacked her and then was attacked himself? I must admit I don't have huge confidence in the police either investigating or resolving this properly, but lets hope I am wrong for the sake of everyone affected.

[winnerinsix]

winnerinsix, on 17 Sept 2014 - 15:01, said:

To me, the fact there was no robbery, made it likely there was farang involvement... right from day one.

Both man and woman were raped, supposedly. What does robbery have to do with rape or drug induced behaviour ?

That generally you need motive..... I think a great % of crimes against farang committed by Thai involve either robbery or a jealous Thai bloke over his Thai GF. None of those things appear to be in play here. The fact that both were raped, if indeed that is the case, and again DNA will determine if by one or more people, points to a personal/angry attack rather than a random opportunistic attack.

As I have written earlier..... IMO DNA will, in the end, determine whether the Brit has a case to answer... who knows? You don't and nor do I...Time will tell. But it is nonsense to suggest a Brit could not have done it....

[mesquite]

First it was Burmese, then British. And let's see, that guy on the beach harassing the woman was Cambodian. Bad air in Chiang Mai is due to the Koreans.

Blame the foreigners.

[Bean87]

A post from Chris just now

"Do not believe the media I'm going through the worst tragedy of my life!! We are with the tourist police helping with enquires and being well looked after"

[Scully]

"A photo given to the media by police that was mistakenly identified as the 2 British tourists who were murdered later that night on 15 Sept 2014."

This case has the eyes of the world watching, yet it reeks of incompetence.

[uktony]

Is nakedly even a word?

Police are looking for anyone but a Thai for this murder.

[Bobobirdiebuddy]

What a mess - 3 stories in 12 hours, each accusing someone different. Are there any adults in charge here?

[JenniferSG]

So when initially interviewed his luggage wasn't searched and he's been carrying blood stained clothes around for a couple of days ?

That seems really unlikely to me.

[Seekingasylum]

Keystone cops at it again it seems. The Thai are quite simply the pits when it comes to doing anything remotely serious or which requires intelligence, organisation and method. Headless chickens running around squawking would make a better fist of this enquiry. And folk here actually post as if these muppets were a real police force capable of mounting a coherent investigation. Any moment now we'll be hearing a report from Colonel Somchai aliens from planet Zog are suspects.

[simple1]

...when I read the story about the "blood-stained hoe" I kept thinking that that would not be a weapon of choice for a Thai, Myanmar or otherwise Asian killer. They are usually not strong enough to handle such a weapon.

This is exactly the way Thai - Isaan people kill pigs and cows . I 've seen this many times here where i live .

Hoes were used as a tool for execution during Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia.

Thai language report saying 6 Burmese also detained under suspicion for the murders

[draftvader]

I grew up with Chris and Dave and know them both very well, and im totally shocked to what has happened.

First off, Chris would never do this, he has know Dave since 4 years old at Primary school in Jersey, they are like brothers.

Chris was helping the police the whole day on monday with cctv etc as I was in contact with him. He was questioned etc and released. His head was <deleted> up and he went to Bangkok on the Tuesday to meet his brother.

The guy who left the island on the same morning was an English guy that they met over there, thats all I know, I believe he is working with police also alongside Chris.

About the bloody trousers etc I know nothing about that because im not there, but I don't believe Chris is under arrrest, he is currently online on facebook and says he is in Bangkok and not Koh Tao like reported.

Thats all I know at the moment.

RIP Disco Dave and the poor girl you met bro.

Thank you for some clear information. It is probably going to be picked apart so keep your head down

We are all shocked right now. The best thing that you and the families can do is try to push Scotland Yard to get involved as quickly as possible. The evidence is already well past contaminated and the police will not be paying too much attention to the witness statements (plus are having issues with translations, etc). If Scotland Yard (I do wonder what that will be called after tomorrow) make some calls it might "focus" the minds of the local police a touch as they really don't want foreign police coming here again (it has happened a number of times). Just short-cutting you guys as to how things work around here. I little push from high up gets a lot done.

[winnerinsix]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Terrible Terrible crime....

I am a little bemused by some of the comments here. To put in perspective, we currently have a govt, who's stated #1 objective is to get on top of corruption... And they appear to be all powerful at the moment... To me it appears, the vast majority of TV posters support that Govt.... Yet, many posters are talking about police corruption.... seriously? You can't have it both ways...

poor bloody kids...

Not sure what your first paragraph has to do with anything really, but regarding Thai's having no motive I think you are very wrong. The girl was probably raped and Thai's really go for blondes in a big way. A horny drunk Thai is just as likely as any other scenario right now.

As for the apparent suggestions this English kid did it, I have serious doubts given the BIB's amazing history and how utterly <deleted> Thai reporting is

what it has to do with, is that some are crying police corruption... and some claiming that , happen to be supporters of the current govt, who claim to be on the warpath against corruption... Are the govt fighting corruption or not? And, do you really think the cops would be so stupid as to deliberately muck up this investigation to take care of some one, as has been suggested earlier? especially in this current climate?

I know the response is off topic to a degree, but it puts in perspective what I was getting at..

[Prbkk]

The "arrested" Brit bears absolutely zero resemblance to the person running in the CCTV footage...

[AnotherOneAmerican]

And, do you really think the cops would be so stupid as to deliberately muck up this investigation to take care of some one, as has been suggested earlier? especially in this current climate?

Absolutely!

[JenniferSG]

This seems more likely than one murderer /rapist depositing two semen samples between both victims after killing at least one first.

I can only guess this was a case of several men stumbling on them and due to a combination of perhaps Thai whiskey or Ya Ba (both?) the situation quickly turned to assault and rape , followed by murder.

The Bangkok Post says no rape.

[draftvader]

The "arrested" Brit bears absolutely zero resemblance to the person running in the CCTV footage...

It's moving thick and fast today. RTP have admitted (a few minutes ago) that the footage was pointless and not even of the couple.

[Treborz]

I grew up with Chris and Dave and know them both very well, and im totally shocked to what has happened.

First off, Chris would never do this, he has know Dave since 4 years old at Primary school in Jersey, they are like brothers.

Chris was helping the police the whole day on monday with cctv etc as I was in contact with him. He was questioned etc and released. His head was <deleted> up and he went to Bangkok on the Tuesday to meet his brother.

The guy who left the island on the same morning was an English guy that they met over there, thats all I know, I believe he is working with police also alongside Chris.

About the bloody trousers etc I know nothing about that because im not there, but I don't believe Chris is under arrrest, he is currently online on facebook and says he is in Bangkok and not Koh Tao like reported.

Thats all I know at the moment.

RIP Disco Dave and the poor girl you met bro.

If this is true and i have no reason to doubt it isn't then the media have a lot to &lt;deleted&gt; answer for, dragging his name through the mud like this.

[winnerinsix]

And, do you really think the cops would be so stupid as to deliberately muck up this investigation to take care of some one, as has been suggested earlier? especially in this current climate?

Absolutely!

Up2U.... I don't... have to agree to disagree...