Terrified Briton flees Koh Tao after 'mafia' death threat

[lucaswallachia]

Does not have to be Thai Visa. Any press, any blog, any site anywhere?

My point is that all the sherlocks out there offer nothing but conjecture.

If they profess to know everything..... then step up to the microphone!

There is an international audience who want to know the truth!

Well I stepped up a few hours ago but my post was deleted by Thaivisa, you can rest assured that some people don't want to know or allow the truth to be conveyed..

This crime is a lot worse than Murder...there is photograpic proof from the crime scene that has been released by the police in private that shows and proves the female victim was murdered BEFORE she was raped twice...

counting the minutes till this post is deleted, but not to worry, there will be copies of the photos/proof sent to the western news, no more cover ups!!!!!!!!!

Yes, i have all the photos from the scene and have come to that conclusion ,thus why they covered her face with a towel.

[SPB65]

I haven't read all of this long thread so maybe someone already raised this, but this guy seems dodgy to me. He's supposedly a friend of the victims, hangs around the AC Bar where it all kicked off but he has to wait to be threatened personally before he decides to come out and say something or get the investigation moving along. Some friend ! Even a week later he's still staying up all night drinking in the very same bar, doesn't even think to stop going there out of respect for the friends and families even if he has got nothing to do with it. The guy is supsect, even if not a suspect. If those guys did hang him their DNA would be all over him and it would have been case closed. What might have been........

[mataleo]

I haven't read all of this long thread so maybe someone already raised this, but this guy seems dodgy to me. He's supposedly a friend of the victims, hangs around the AC Bar where it all kicked off but he has to wait to be threatened personally before he decides to come out and say something or get the investigation moving along. Some friend ! Even a week later he's still staying up all night drinking in the very same bar, doesn't even think to stop going there out of respect for the friends and families even if he has got nothing to do with it. The guy is supsect, even if not a suspect. If those guys did hang him their DNA would be all over him and it would have been case closed. What might have been........

I think u got it bit wrong.

Reread it

[SteveFong]

Sean McAnna cracked the case by posting two pictures on Facebook of who he knew was involved in the grisly deeds

If he didnt expose them, they would have continued to bully the residents and the police

as it is, he was already impeding their investigation, and was forced to admit, he knew what happened

[mataleo]

Just saw on Australian media that tourists are leaving Thailand in droves. Tourists are actually scarred

Yknow Chooka I wouldnt blame the British press if they set out on a boycott Thailand campaign. It would be justified the way this has been stonewalled until its become impossible to cover up .. and they only reason .. I think the International press and community for this, nothing of credit do I give to the Thai authorities... nothing.

If I were a Brit tourist id be leaving too... Why ? not because of fear but because Its the only way to show my disgust over the whole thing.

I Hope the international press start to look a lot harder into other past cases and push them back up to the surface .. theres a lot of unsolved cases and families that still need closure... you can bet 50% at least are cover ups...

European tourism needs a boost, enough really great holiday places across Europe with far more culture, architecture, great food, beaches and all that good stuff.

Depends where

Eastern europe ok

But places like spain

They charge u 25 euro for seat on beach

entry to club 50 euro and 0.33 beer there 12 euro

[benj005]

Money talks.

We will see how long these mafia guys last when people stop going to Koh Tao, and tourist money stops.

[mataleo]

Just saw on Australian media that tourists are leaving Thailand in droves. Tourists are actually scarred

Yknow Chooka I wouldnt blame the British press if they set out on a boycott Thailand campaign. It would be justified the way this has been stonewalled until its become impossible to cover up .. and they only reason .. I think the International press and community for this, nothing of credit do I give to the Thai authorities... nothing.

If I were a Brit tourist id be leaving too... Why ? not because of fear but because Its the only way to show my disgust over the whole thing.

I Hope the international press start to look a lot harder into other past cases and push them back up to the surface .. theres a lot of unsolved cases and families that still need closure... you can bet 50% at least are cover ups...

Why don't you lead by example? Pack up and just leave if this country is so bad instead of continually whining and whinging . Your children will be much safer at some council estate in London or elsewhere.

Hmm lets see now, I do live and do business in both countries with my Thai family, have done for decades by choice because living full time in Thailand would be to the detriment of my family both financially and socially. My wife and daughter feel and are much safer in the UK, no question about it also been properly and fully educated in the UK with qualifications that mean something worldwide and we dont need to live on a council estate so dont..

As for the rest its none of your business ... i dont apologise for the mistakes and faults of the UK of which there are many and im sure not going to apologise for Thailands massive faults either...

Depends where u live man

U go walk at night in east london...

u get mugged or stabbed

Theres a lot of doggy places in big cities.

I used to live in london 9 years

And im not fearfull person.

I grew up on streets in poland.

I ever walk alone at night in pattaya and bkk everywhere

In darkests sois

Never problem

I would prefer to go dark soi here then some street in london doggy area..

[mataleo]

Sean McAnna cracked the case by posting two pictures on Facebook of who he knew was involved in the grisly deeds

If he didnt expose them, they would have continued to bully the residents and the police

as it is, he was already impeding their investigation, and was forced to admit, he knew what happened

He should get 713k reward

[jaywalker]

The only way this case is going to be resolved correctly is if there is enough International pressure placed on it to make it otherwise unbearable for the Thai NOT to solve it. Otherwise it will go the way so many other "foreigner" murders have gone - under the carpet and forgotten about in time.

This case is all over the news, worldwide,

even people I never expected to hear of it, in the USA, are aware of the case as is everyone in Bangkok

It will be solved

Watch tourism there dissapear

Yep, I'm in the USA & I'm following it.

[metisdead]

A post containing a link to Andrew Drummond's website has been removed as it is a commercial blog site. Please understand Thai Visa is not employed as a tool to obtain information for Andrew Drummond nor do we use material from his web site.

[jaywalker]

[snip] ....I think it is high time for this new government to put an end to all these full moon parties and the drug scene and let normal people enjoy these places again.

It was only a matter of time for something like this to happen. Shut it down.

[snip] ....Thailand doesn't need a bunch of drugged up and drunk kids dancing around until the dawn.

Amen Brother, Amen.

[zoza]

Wow, there are a lot of cynics on this thread. To think that the people who live on Koh Tao want anything less than justice for the killers of these two people is mind-blowing. Keep in mind, we LIVE here and can't stand the thought that there are people living amongst who are capable of such an atrocity. We want these people caught for the families of the victims, for our own safety, and to a much lesser degree because we have built lives and businesses here and we will undoubtedly suffer from the negative attention.

All of the speculation and the actual reporting of this story in the media has been terribly insensitive and counter-productive. The owner of the resort was one of the first on the scene because he owns a business adjacent to it. Reports that he hasn't submitted a DNA test are false. He was one of the first to be tested.

Talk of a mafia-run island is also incorrect. Some of our local business people have more influence than others because they have more land, money, family interests, etc. These are the people that get elected into government on Koh Tao as well as in many other places in the world. We don't have any history of tourist murders on the island. Drugs are not as prevalent here as they are in many other places in Thailand, and all of the Full Moon party references apply to Koh Phangan, not Koh Tao.

Sean McAnna has not been here working as a barman for 18 months here. In fact, he only recently arrived. He spent some time here in the past and wasn't able to maintain employment anywhere for long on the island. He has been all over the place with his views of what happened. His first post since the tragedy occurred (since removed) was of how sad he was and that he was supposed to meet David Miller on the night of the murders, but he fell asleep in his bungalow. Now he somehow seems to have witnessed the killings and can ID the killers. And if he did witness the murders, why is he only just now speaking up? We have had literally hundreds of mainland police combing this island for a week. If he felt uncomfortable speaking about it because he feared for what would happen to him if he did, why not leave the island and contact the British Embassy who could then keep him safe while he spoke with police in Bangkok or even at home in the UK? Instead, he drunkenly walked into AC Bar at night, alone and made accusations against the owner. And why would he post such garbage on Facebook instead of speaking to the authorities? These are just a few of the reasons that we question his mental state. He seems to be quite illogical in his actions and more than a little bit disturbed. Hopefully, he gets the help he needs and the authorities will get back to searching for the killers...

I'm surprised you find the members cynical but maybe the things people have read about the place and the whole investigation could of caused this.

the first statement from Bangkok about the people should maybe look at themselves and the way they dress

(bikini's)

the first statement by the top man doing the investigating (island) no thai person could of committed this crime.

the statement by the officer questioning mr miller's lifelong friend when he was detained in Bangkok, this is a crime of passion, a gay crime, when he

heard that mr miller shared a flat (a very common thing in jersey)with the friend,

the thoughtless and unnecessary comments about loss of tourist money

ditto with the autopsy results

the fact that two women were robbed by four thai men the night before and at the same place as the murders.

the report of another man from jersey being attacked and had a glass smashed in his face in may in the ac bar by two thai men (mr s carter j e post )

the fact that after four days the police had detained twelve people all foreigners.

I don't know if sean macanna is telling the truth or not, but one of the people who he photographed seems to either be involved or knows who is because since their interview the police now seem very confident, there is a photo of one of these blokes at the crime scene with the police he is not

a spectator and not a cop, it looks like he is also on a cctv running from the direction of the murder scene at about an hour after the victim was seen

heading towards the beach

i am pretty sure that either directly or indirectly sean mcanna has helped the truth to surface while no one else living on the island can claim this. .

[animatic]

How many 7/11 workers could you borrow a phone from that have INTERNATIONAL call availability, to call your mum and sister?

BS - He's lying.

How many 7/11 workers do you know that have enough credit to call International numbers?

Even my own wife rarely has anymore then 200-300 baht credit on her phone, and I don't tend to have much more in mine either when I'm at home.

If you dial 006 it costs 3 baht a minute to a landline. . Hmm even on 100 Baht you could speak gor more than 30 minutes. Also he was in a shop that may sell top up, so you assume he is lying. Great, glad you aren't running this investigation.

I never knew that about the 006 I wish I had known about it before, it would have saved me a fortune .. thanks for the top tip, you learn something new every day, is that any landline though, even UK/Aus/USA??

I don't assume he was lying, I posted that in haste, I actually think he's telling the truth, do you honestly think he would put that much attention on himself, to be exposed as a liar? Seems a bit bizzarre to me if he did.. but the truth will come out, unless the BiB have already "taken care" of the persons he named DNA samples.

7/11 is exactly where you could hand them 500 baht to put money in their phone,

and use it too call UK. And let them keep the balance or top it up again.

He would have to be daft, and not greedy for publicity, to do this public statement

and not truly believe he was in eminent danger from the locals.

He seems scared but rational, and not a media hungry <deleted>.

Clearly he was there nearby the scene and before, so the real perpetrators or their

mates would find him a perfect patsy to stitch up and drive the investigation

away from the real criminals. Dead men tell no tales as it were.

Dead men also can not protest their innocence.

Or point fingers....

The difference between the first few days and the later days of the investigation

is that it is NOT the same local BIB running it. They have been replaced by higher level folks from Bangkok,

who are not likely to be in bed with, related to, or kow towing to the local mafia and power structure.

So we can really write off the early days pronouncements as damage control by the local crooks,

and the later as the local crooks taking a side step to try and misdirect the Bangkok guys as they learn the local scene.

Sean's troubles would be the locals trying to find any way to turn the eyes away from their boys and towards outsiders.

A logical thing for them to try, probably not realising it would be harder to lull off in the real world.

Once he used the online media and friends to escape, this pointed fingers at those that were trying to stitch him up,

and that certainly makes the Bangkok guys job easier. They look at the network around those guys.

Who's there, who's related, who's done a runner, and who's DNA has familial matches for the semen in the girl.

[JenniferSG]

How many 7/11 workers could you borrow a phone from that have INTERNATIONAL call availability, to call your mum and sister?

BS - He's lying.

He said in the television interview that his sister was able to call him. He was posting to facebook and no doubt messaging for help. It takes abour 12 characters in a Facebook IM to give someone your phone #. He was also begging the press to call him, so he must have put the phone # out there in some way.

[mataleo]

The brother of the Koh Tao village chief who was questioned by police on Tuesday in connection with the double murder island has been cleared.

What a surprise

[T_Dog]

The brother of the Koh Tao village chief who was questioned by police on Tuesday in connection with the double murder island has been cleared.

What a surprise

That kind of post needs a link.

[greenchair]

I think they should test Sean dna also. Ithink he has something to do with this. Why did he say he was supposed to meet up with david, but could not. But in other post say he saw the barroom fight. Something doesnt add up about this guy.

[balo]

So is the guy they are looking for in Bangkok the one on the right in the photo that Sean McAnna sent out from the mini-mart?

No the man to the right in the picture is a policeman in civilian clothes who is a friend of the brother.

The suspect who escaped to Bangkok , he's the son of the village chef , he is hiding and we don'r know what he looks like, no pictures has been released.

[littlebw]

make them all take lie detector tests if they want to prove their innocence !

[culicine]

The brother of the Koh Tao village chief who was questioned by police on Tuesday in connection with the double murder island has been cleared.

What a surprise

That kind of post needs a link.

Check the major online newspapers. It's there now. DNA test results in under 24 hours. The Thai police forensics unit will never cease to amaze me...

[harp73]

How many 7/11 workers could you borrow a phone from that have INTERNATIONAL call availability, to call your mum and sister?

BS - He's lying.

He said in the television interview that his sister was able to call him. He was posting to facebook and no doubt messaging for help. It takes abour 12 characters in a Facebook IM to give someone your phone #. He was also begging the press to call him, so he must have put the phone # out there in some way.

He had put his thai phone number on fb on the 14/15th

[Bleacher Bum East]

We've all seen this movie before and know where it is probably heading.

Most likely the son/nephew/right hand man (depending on which media org you follow) of the ex/current headman (again depending on the source) is the killer.

He took off the morning of the murders, was given ample time for a weeks head start by the smokescreen put up by the local authorities, and is now either on his way to Cambodia or Malaysia, or is already there.

After laying low for a couple of months, his next stop will probably be Singapore, which is Thailand's unofficial prison for the rich and well-connected.

I hope I am wrong, but odds are that I'm not.

BTW I don't think the guy in Sean's photo (brother of the headman?) who was also on the CCTV and beach videos is one of the killers. And in fact reports are now that he has been cleared based on DNA evidence (which doesn't necessarily mean he was not there and somehow involved).

But I think he was told about the murders just after they happened and about who did it--then he went to the beach to check it out and was caught on camera. When he saw what he saw, he ran away and was caught by the cameras once again. That's why he was confidant he would cleared in the DNA check and hasn't left the island and headed to Singapore as well.

All for what it's worth--which is what all of our comments are. But it's clear that the media spotlight has had an effect on the case, and that's a good thing despite the fact that we're all just speculating.

[Eagle60]

God this is so horrible and sad. I can't even imagine how devastated the families must be at this time. Depresses me. And on all accounts from the press, the victims were two of loveliest young people you could ever wish to meet. Really good people with their whole lives ahead of them. Doing charitable work, living life to the full, smiling and enjoying themselves. All destroyed by some horrible person or persons. So sad.

Then add into the equation all the speculation, gossip, media circus and now someone who says he was a friend of the poor victim and then in The Mirror and various other papers in the UK, it reveals he had a child pornography conviction which he pleaded guilty to. Now whether anyone thinks that is relevant or not, it is still information and child pornography is not something the majority of people like or ever look at. It disgusts them. So whether anyone thinks it is relevant or not, it just adds more unpleasantness to an already horrible situation.

The only solace I find is that the families of the victims and the friends of the deceased behave in such a decent fashion under such terrible circumstances. None of their friends have talked to the papers as far as I know, and they all seem to be doing what any normal person would do, which is grieve privately with decorum, whilst under appalling pressure, stress, emotional devastation and sadness.

[Bleacher Bum East]

The island was never sealed off from the inside after the murders ...

But maybe it should be sealed off from the outside now?

Shut it down---no more incoming tourists until the murderer is produced.

I know this would be a very harsh result for a lot of innocent people living and working on the island (and I have friends there).

But part of me thinks punishing those protecting the killer is worth doing it.

Help the innocent people relocate, and shut the place down.

[andy the man]

Thais DO NOT LIKE falang.....your death, murder is completely un-important to them.

Money on the other hand........

Might sound like Thai bashing...... but it is the truth.

[mataleo]

The brother of the Koh Tao village chief who was questioned by police on Tuesday in connection with the double murder island has been cleared.

What a surprise

That kind of post needs a link.

Not allowed here

Its on Bangkok post

[buhi]

Thais DO NOT LIKE falang.....your death, murder is completely un-important to them.

Money on the other hand........

Might sound like Thai bashing...... but it is the truth.

Life is cheap here, death, just what it is, but you are right, money counts no matter what nationality you are!

[T_Dog]

The brother of the Koh Tao village chief who was questioned by police on Tuesday in connection with the double murder island has been cleared.

What a surprise

That kind of post needs a link.

Not allowed here

Its on Bangkok post

Latest update there is from 6:25 this morning. The police are still waiting for the DNA results from that article.

[traviss]

BANGKOK —Thailand’s new police chief has brushed off media reports that there is "mafia" network on the resort island in Southern Thailand where two British tourists were murdered last week.

He must have a different definition of "Mafia" to the rest of Thailand.

And Thailand has a different definition of mafia to the rest of the world. Why does everyone continue to refer to this loosely organized group/gang that lacks true organization, structure and code as mafia? Italian, Russian, Albanian, Triad, Yakuza, Mexican...This is mafia. Is the association due to only the common definition of "mafia"?

[mojorison]

Thais DO NOT LIKE falang.....your death, murder is completely un-important to them.

Money on the other hand........

Might sound like Thai bashing...... but it is the truth.

It's quite likely they do not like you, but I have many Thai friends... and they seem to like other white folks as well.