Thailand beach murders: Hannah Witheridge and David Miller may have argued in bar with gangster

[Lite Beer]

Thailand beach murders: Hannah Witheridge and David Miller may have argued in bar with gangster
By Andy Lines

KOH TAO: -- Police are also trying to trace a mystery western woman seen on CCTV running along the main street in the early hours on the night of the murders

Murdered British backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller may have been in a row in a bar with a local gangster who tried to chat her up.

But there were also fears the killer may already have fled the tiny Thai island of Koh Tao where the pair died.

Police are probing claims a drug called “ya ba” - pill available in certain bars on the island - may have been involved in the murder.

They are also trying to trace a mystery western woman seen on CCTV running along the main street in the early hours on the night of the murders.

Meanwhile DNA found on her body came from two unknown Asian men, tests revealed.

Read More: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/thailand-beach-murders-hannah-witheridge-4297320

--Mirror Online 2014-09-20

[Patje]

And the plot thickens ..... For once, can the police shut up and do their work instead of blabbering all kind of rumours to the local press boys, pretty please ?

[Basil B]

Maybe they were rather quick to rule out Thai's...

[Costas2008]

Please, no more of Police said that and police said the other.

Get the bloody murderer/s, and I will congratulate you with all my heart.

Don't try to make it a novel, this is a gruesome murder that has to be solved and very soon.

[ourmanflint]

Obviously by local gangster they mean a foreign criminal who lives locally, not a local man, not a THAI!! That would be impossible to imagine it would seem.

[Mackie]

That's what I was afraid of. Losing face big time in front of everyone simple requires an immediate action in certain circles in Thailand. Anyway as far as I know there are plenty of speedboats around to get you to the island or from the island any time of the day for the right price. The perpetrators could have left the island before people raised the alarm.

[Local Drunk]

"But there were also fears the killer may already have fled"

Translates as "bungled investigation" and now some poor soul is probably going to hang for it to save face for the bunglers.

[changnaam]

Has it really taken them a week to find out what many expected from the start. I am sure half of koh Tao knows exactly who did it. I would also be sure the local police know exactly who did it.

How they can keep this under wraps is shocking, especially now bkk police are involved.

Things need to change Thailand, the eyes of the world are on you.

So sorry for the 2 souls, and the family they were taken from.

[Thai at Heart]

This is in the British press, not the Thai.

I would hope the Thais now follow up on this line of investigation which has been around since day 1.

[Fred Flinstone]

I ask the reader here to refrain from any softening of resolve.

Thais understand this website represents westerner opinion .

Though , i hold some respect for the latest, i know it is about time.

Thais will bite time.

No one can deny this is their mentality.

Don't fall for this trap.

Wait.

This is the generals moment .

He can become "internationally credible " If he has the stomach to crucify the criminals" not literally , but figuratively tough….

Even if protected - arrest them…..

If he transcends the red tape and give "US westerners "" our justice he will indeed be able to deem himself "an arrival on the world stage""

But execution is very necessary to heal these deep wounds ….

You can become very believable if you arrest and kill these bastards

Edited September 21, 2014 by Fred Flinstone

[Bluespunk]

I ask the reader here to refrain from any softening of resolve.

Thais understand this website represents westerner opinion .

Though , i hold some respect for the latest, i know it is about time.

Thais will bite time.

No one can deny this is their mentality.

Don't fall for this trap.

Wait.

This is the generals moment .

He can become "internationally credible " If he has the stomach to crucify the criminals" not literally , but figuratively tough.

Even if protected - arrest them..

If he transcends the red tape and give "US westerners "" our justice he will indeed be able to deem himself "an arrival on the world stage""

But execution is very necessary to heal these deep wounds .

You can become very believable if you arrest and kill these bastards

Solving the crime by due process is essential.

Execution is never necessary but does happen. However only after due process no matter what the crime.

Anything else is just tyranny.

[Local Drunk]

This is in the British press, not the Thai.

I would hope the Thais now follow up on this line of investigation which has been around since day 1.

Do you mean the press or the police?

[Wilsonandson]

One thing that surprised me about Ko Toa is how late its bars shut. Walking home in the dark on a beach pitch black isn't a good idea. Why did they return to their hotel that way is there lit up areas on the beach now? I've been there twice and there was no lighting next to the beach. Also there is news reports of a second weapon a stick, can anyone confirm this? And the Chris Ware going home is to me strange, if it were my best mate from childhood killed I'd stay and try to help find out who did this to him. The gangster theory seems a little far fetched more over its a national vacationing on Ko To a who has returned home by now.

[Bung]

So they have an argument in a bar and no one sees anything? The barman, security staff, other patrons? A local gangster? No one knows who this is? Selling drugs? No one knows who sells drugs there? Did the police not interview everyone from that bar immediately while the island was in lock down?

Local guy tries to chat up the girl, she rejects him, he gets angry,the guy steps in, local guy storms off, the girl follows to calm him down, shares a cigarette with him,the western guy sees she's gone and goes to look for her, finds the local guy raping her, intervenes and gets taken out by the local guy and his accomplice.

All these full moon parties and the drugs that go with them should banned forthwith.

Who could be involved in the drug trade there I wonder? You know, who would turn a blind eye for a share of the profits?

Regardless, the perpetrator is long gone but will probably return after this is all forgotten which will be in a couple of weeks when the police come up with nothing and the media find something else to tittilate the public with.

I would be very surprised if this gets solved but I hope it does.

[EnzoRippo]

So, "he" was right. They deserve what they got as to have an argument with local mafia => red card

[robertthebruce]

Is there Gangsters in Thailand ?????

[Just1Voice]

My feeling is that the local BIB are seriously trying to cover up and protect an island hi-so, and in the process, blaming everyone EXCEPT a Thai. That was evident from the statement about how no Thai could every do something like this. Oh, really? Must not read the paper or watch the news much, as Thai are killing and raping Thai every day of the week.

First it was blamed on Burmese - always the first target.

Then on the friends of the victim - sure, why not. Oops, that didn't pan out so well for them.

Now the focus is on the Rohinga - Next?

Aliens did it? Most likely, but in their minds, it just COULDN'T have been a wonderful, Buddhist loving Thai.

[Triplebank999]

I ask the reader here to refrain from any softening of resolve.

Thais understand this website represents westerner opinion .

Though , i hold some respect for the latest, i know it is about time.

Thais will bite time.

No one can deny this is their mentality.

Don't fall for this trap.

Wait.

This is the generals moment .

He can become "internationally credible " If he has the stomach to crucify the criminals" not literally , but figuratively tough….

Even if protected - arrest them…..

If he transcends the red tape and give "US westerners "" our justice he will indeed be able to deem himself "an arrival on the world stage""

But execution is very necessary to heal these deep wounds ….

You can become very believable if you arrest and kill these bastards

"Thais understand this website represents westerner opinion ."

That's a very misguided opinion.

This site does not represent "westerner opinion" at all, it posts the (usually ill-informed*) views of a very limited number of people registered to the forum. Very few Thais, and relatively few westerners, have any idea of the existence of ThaiVisa and those that do generally have no interest in the views* of it's posters.

* I'm not trying to denegrate TV posters but most views expressed here are backed by dubious information from very unreliable sources and then regurgitated usually with a rather imaginative twist.

[Sena Dave]

This is when you find out what I suspect already about Resorts in Thailand, The locals look at the Tourists as lumps of meat with large wallets. If it is a "Local" who committed this crime then another local will know who it is , a local will know if someone has disappeared. So the question is will a Thai inform on a Thai for killing and diving away their bread and butter

[balo]

If it was a local gangster he would have been known by the island. And big bribes involved for people to shut up .

If he was a visitor to the Island he could still belong to a gang and that will make it more difficult for the police to trace him . He probably escaped the same night it happened.

[bkkgooner]

So they have an argument in a bar and no one sees anything? The barman, security staff, other patrons? A local gangster? No one knows who this is? Selling drugs? No one knows who sells drugs there? Did the police not interview everyone from that bar immediately while the island was in lock down?

Local guy tries to chat up the girl, she rejects him, he gets angry,the guy steps in, local guy storms off, the girl follows to calm him down, shares a cigarette with him,the western guy sees she's gone and goes to look for her, finds the local guy raping her, intervenes and gets taken out by the local guy and his accomplice.

Why would an English tourist follow a local gangster out of a bar to calm him down?

I would imagine that they were seen earlier in the evening and then followed to the beach by two people, they thought they could knock out the boyfriend and rape the girl but they didn't expect them both to fight back, they panicked and killed both of them.

Local gangsters wouldn't be leaving tourists's bodies on beach, the bodies would be on a boat and disappearing into the ocean. I don't think the local police are protecting anyone in this case as the stakes are simply too high and there is too much international media involved in the case now. The army would not let some little two bit island gangster get off with murdering two tourists I just don't see it happening in today's Thailand they would know the situation themselves and they seem to take enjoyment in embarrassing the police force at any opportunity.

I'm just not buying the weird conspiracy theories, I think it's fairly likely that a couple of low paid Thais or Burmese committed the act and have fled the island since and I believe that sooner or later someone will rat them out. The Thais ALWAYS rat each other out eventually.

[SPB65]

This latest "possibility" is what the smart money has been on for some time. It's yet to be proven but I felt from the outset that yaba wouldn't be far away from this crime. Users literally lose their minds on that stuff. Has the autopsy ascertained whether the victims had partaken in it ? One possibility could be a drug gathering that got out of hand, hence the victims were not necessarily stalked or pounced upon whilst walking home. Just a possibility given the shared cigarette scenario and the attackers being more than one.

[Crazy chef 1]

what's next? Santa Claus was seen at the scene but has already taken off?

[ToddinChonburi]

Of course he is no longer on the island , the British kid was on the 6:30 am boat to the main land and got stopped at the airport.

So you know darn well the killers got to running also, I think the Thais on the island are afraid to talk because they do not want to wind up dead.

[snairb]

the locals say it was 2 thai man from bangkok who were staying in a hotel here

probably an element of truth as a few days ago it was not thai who had "dunnit"

[kannot]

Has it really taken them a week to find out what many expected from the start. I am sure half of koh Tao knows exactly who did it. I would also be sure the local police know exactly who did it.

How they can keep this under wraps is shocking, especially now bkk police are involved.

Things need to change Thailand, the eyes of the world are on you.

So sorry for the 2 souls, and the family they were taken from.

Im pretty sure I read Hannah had already tweeted this whilst she was still alive and should have been a line of investigation right from the off.

All they need to do is up the reward to x million and he will be found.

[NCFC]

So they have an argument in a bar and no one sees anything? The barman, security staff, other patrons? A local gangster? No one knows who this is? Selling drugs? No one knows who sells drugs there? Did the police not interview everyone from that bar immediately while the island was in lock down?

Local guy tries to chat up the girl, she rejects him, he gets angry,the guy steps in, local guy storms off, the girl follows to calm him down, shares a cigarette with him,the western guy sees she's gone and goes to look for her, finds the local guy raping her, intervenes and gets taken out by the local guy and his accomplice.

Why would an English tourist follow a local gangster out of a bar to calm him down?

I would imagine that they were seen earlier in the evening and then followed to the beach by two people, they thought they could knock out the boyfriend and rape the girl but they didn't expect them both to fight back, they panicked and killed both of them.

Local gangsters wouldn't be leaving tourists's bodies on beach, the bodies would be on a boat and disappearing into the ocean. I don't think the local police are protecting anyone in this case as the stakes are simply too high and there is too much international media involved in the case now. The army would not let some little two bit island gangster get off with murdering two tourists I just don't see it happening in today's Thailand they would know the situation themselves and they seem to take enjoyment in embarrassing the police force at any opportunity.

I'm just not buying the weird conspiracy theories, I think it's fairly likely that a couple of low paid Thais or Burmese committed the act and have fled the island since and I believe that sooner or later someone will rat them out. The Thais ALWAYS rat each other out eventually.

The evidence now suggests the girl shared a cigarette with her killer, given the DNA match and lipstick traces. Therefore she had some form of social contact beforehand. Did the killer(s) coerce her out of the bar somehow? I don't believe there are no witnesses.

[Thai at Heart]

This is in the British press, not the Thai.

I would hope the Thais now follow up on this line of investigation which has been around since day 1.

Do you mean the press or the police?

Either or both would be a start.

This story has been around from the very beginning, and the level of permissive thinking among these hiso kids can be astonishing. I have met a few who have threatened to kill people who cross them.

I wouldn't know if they have ever done it, but am pretty sure their families have. The Thais will know who did this if it is a hiso revenge thing and they will do their best to cover it up as much for their own safety as anything else.

This is a line of investigation that they absolutely must pursue. Let's hope they do.

[edwardandtubs]

It's increasingly obvious that an untouchable Thai man is responsible for this and will never be caught. This is what happens in a society where certain people are above the law and know they can get away with murder. Most young men learn to cope with rejection but this guy feels he can have any woman he wants and commits murder if he doesn't get her. The product of a sick society.

[Bung]

No Thais will say who did it for fear of reprisal. That is a quite well founded belief as well.