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

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

I wouldn't say that a blood stain is significant evidence.

Murder needs a motive, establish the motive and they will have a case.

Yeah right, ever heard of O.J Simpson???

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

"According to Pol.Col. Prachum, the officers in charge of CCTV investigation "made their own assumption"

"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."

What a police force!!!

[les Dennis]

When did he buy his ferry ticket would be worth checking out

[NongKhaiKid]

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]2014-09-17[/khaosod

This was on Yahoo UK early today and everyone, apart from the BIB, seems to have noticed the lady featured wasn't blond.

The Pol. Col. was so correct about each officer and their own piece of information but where was the CONTROL, why was everyone allowed to spout off willy nilly ?

Sorry but a rhetorical question and the BIB wonder why their investigations turn into a cl.......ck !

[KarenBravo]

I can only guess

Yeah......and there lies the problem.

[Thai at Heart]

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

"Each officer gave their own piece of information. From now on, I will be the only person who gives information."

The sooner that a pooyai in Thailand learns to say "no comment" when not sure, it will be a great day.

[lildragon]

Bean87 I hope you and the families find justice soon. The rabid media and rumor merchants are not helping at all. Ignore some of the dribblers on this forum and know that a lot of us have deep condolences for your and the families losses.

[draftvader]

Just found a better picture

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2758358/Shirtless-prime-suspect-caught-CCTV-near-Thai-beach-party-two-British-tourists-bludgeoned-death-island.html

Dailymail doesn't load, where I am sitting. mmmmm.

Please read the thread. It is mentioned a number of times that the

DAILY MAIL HAS BEEN BLOCKED IN THAILAND FOR 3 MONTHS OVER ANOTHER ISSUE!

Please can everybody forgive the shouting here, I feel it is justified. It is not against you Minnehaha but you are the nth person to say the same thing without checking the thread. Hopefully with this bold and uppercase people might not miss it.

[soalbundy]

Didn't the police say he had scratches ? girls scratch, check her finger nails for traces of skin and match the DNA

[Arandora]

Thai police don't know there is no "i" in the word TEAM. For every officer it appears they think this is their moment of fame!

[mango66]

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

I already told the police, it was the gardener !

( sorry hear they are the beachboys )

[DoctorG]

OZ news reports that British police are there "assisting".

[CiaranO]

Thailand thrown onto the international spot light for the wrong reasons yet again but making it worse is the clowns from the BIB who are looking more and more unprofessional. At this rate getting a conviction will be come impossible because no one will ever believe the job the BIB did was anyway competent.

[Estrada]

Anyone remember the two British girls arrested for drug trafficing a few years back? Denials from them, accusations from all the good British newspapers about a fit up, corrupt police etc, etc. Released after a couple of years. Stepped off the aeroplane back home, admitted they did it and sold story to the papers. Just because you are a Brit does not mean you cannot be guilty. Lets wait for more info.

Same happened around 28 years ago. Two girls stayed at the Grace Hotel near soi Nana and got arrested with drugs at the Airport. They said that they did not know who slipped the drugs into their suitcase and after a lot of British media support eventually got released. When they got back to the UK they appeared on ITV News complaining about their treatment and that they were innocent. The problem with their story was that they had stayed at the notorious Grace Hotel and invited a well known Thai drug dealer into their room. Putting it simply, their story was bullshit, as anyone with local knowledge would have known.

[lingyai]

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.

They Burmese were never accused. They were close to the scene so they detained, questioned, and let go. Seems pretty straight forward police work.

[minikev]

plus the girl had blonde hair in her hands,

The arrested farang suspect doesn't have blonde hair (and the suspected Burmese workers probably don't either).

The murdered girl does however have blonde hair.

All the stuff about blonde hair in her hand is probably a translation error as it says see thong which is golden hair. Thais often refer this colour to any lighter than brown,

anyway if dna matches it is his if it doesn't it's not so we just have to wait.

[Boxclever]

Is that a big cut on the back of his right hand?

[oldsailor35]

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

Surely the police will by now have semen samples from the rape. And why did this guy flee on the very first ferry in the morning. He will find out all about rape when he gets to Bangkok Hilton.

[Suradit69]

Let's hope there's more genuine evidence than ' seen strolling near the scene ', I presume if it's him he was strolling before and not after the crime.

They have found a bloodstain on his clothes but wasn't he already interviewed and allowed to go and the stain wasn't seen then ?

I'm not saying he's innocent but the BIB get everything arse for elbow and it raises doubt especially when told from the very top to get it solved ' yesterday '.

"but the BIB get everything arse for elbow"

Certainly a popular fantasy here at the hub of racially-inspired-wet-dreams.

11) You will not post slurs, degrading or overly negative comments directed towards Thailand, specific locations, Thai institutions such as the judicial or law enforcement system, Thai culture, Thai people or any other group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

"especially when told from the very top to get it solved ' yesterday '. "

If that was all that was required, they could have "made sure" the Burmese were guilty and been done with it.

[krislarter]

This girl is from my town here in England.Although i didn't know her everybody is is in shock here.

We all hope this is resolved quickly.I think the police have actually done a very good job so far.

My thoughts are with the deceased's families.

[Dogmatix]

What a twist. It will be interesting to see if they really have their killer or ae just tryin make a foreigner guilty to save their tourism. Good they were able to track down a single tourist and make an arrest however leaving the island (quickly) does not mean running from the scene of a crime

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

They didn't mention whether he had already planned to leave Koh Tao or whether he cut short his reservation at the hotel. He could also have felt he didn't want to stay in that place after a horrible murder had been committed. The police were quick to cite evidence of blood stained clothes and smashed iPhones against the Burmese but that came to nothing.

Heaven forbid that it could have been a Thai citizen. Maybe even a policeman, as is alleged in the still unsolved murder of Kirsty Jones in Chiang Mai.

[NongKhaiKid]

Let's hope there's more genuine evidence than ' seen strolling near the scene ', I presume if it's him he was strolling before and not after the crime.

They have found a bloodstain on his clothes but wasn't he already interviewed and allowed to go and the stain wasn't seen then ?

I'm not saying he's innocent but the BIB get everything arse for elbow and it raises doubt especially when told from the very top to get it solved ' yesterday '.

"but the BIB get everything arse for elbow"

Certainly a popular fantasy here at the hub of racially-inspired-wet-dreams.

11) You will not post slurs, degrading or overly negative comments directed towards Thailand, specific locations, Thai institutions such as the judicial or law enforcement system, Thai culture, Thai people or any other group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

Thanks for that PC operative. A BIB groupie per chance /

[Halion]

Lets all take a holiday from useless speculation regarding this brutal and heinous crime and wait for the DNA and other forensic evidence to be derived from the ongoing investigation.

All the family and friends are also victims of this atrocious act and it will serve no purpose to speculate on the outcome at this point in time.

[KOZMO]

why is it unlikely?

it seems no less likely than any of the other scenarios.

Especially a backpacker slumming around!!!!!

[lingyai]

If a Thai was found to have done it many on here would be screaming for the death penalty

If it turns out a Brit did it will you same people also scream for the death penalty?

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Lets all take a holiday from useless speculation regarding this brutal and heinous crime and wait for the DNA and other forensic evidence to be derived from the ongoing investigation.

All the family and friends are also victims of this atrocious act and it will serve no purpose to speculate on the outcome at this point in time.

The less speculation and adverse publicity this case gets, the more likely the Thai police will conclude it was suicide.

We must all do our part to keep this case in the public eye, until real evidence convicts a completely credible criminal.

[Dogmatix]

What a twist. It will be interesting to see if they really have their killer or ae just tryin make a foreigner guilty to save their tourism. Good they were able to track down a single tourist and make an arrest however leaving the island (quickly) does not mean running from the scene of a crime

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Maybe he came to the end of his trip or didn't feel like staying there after the murders. The police were quick to tout evidence of blood stained clothes and smashed iPhones in the Burmese' shack but that now seems to have come to nothing.

Heaven forbid that it should have been a Thai or even a policemen, as is alleged in the unsolved murder of Kirsty Jones.

[kamahele]

so now there are 4 suspects. the backpacker with blood on his clothes and the three Burmese with bloody i phones? 1 in custody and 3 not in custody awaiting DNA results. I just hope they charge the right person.

[FeroX]

If a Thai was found to have done it many on here would be screaming for the death penalty

If it turns out a Brit did it will you same people also scream for the death penalty?

Dam right i would.

[jobin]

So those brit girls with drugs lied, lied, and lied to protect their a**es? Surely not.