Toby Charnaud

[Thistle]

Having read some of the comments on this subject yesterday and been horrified by some of the disrespectful comments I thought I had bettr put you straight on some of the facts about this wonderful and great man. I suggest you do not base your comments on things read in newspapers.

I knew Toby and he was a truely great man. He loved his wife and contrary to reports he did not go on holiday, meet her and marry her, they had an extended courtship and he visited Thailand a few times before marrying her.

Toby was not a tycoon, not a country squire and not a huge landowner as reported. The reports of him going travelling with 2.5 million are outrageous - put all his assets and everything he owned into the pot and you could probably take a zero off that figure.

Toby was a very generous, kind hearted and popular man who is very sorely missed by his friends in Hua Hin. He lived for his son and had custody of him - He had a great sense of homour, he was gentle and if there is any critisism of him it is that he was naive - is that a crime these days.

He did not deserve what happened to him, neither did his family and his son. everyone are losers here because of the greed of an evil woman. I for one hopes justice prevails.

Is it not time you respected the dead, showed respect to the family and feel grateful you are alive, To a great man - we miss you and you are in our thoughts.

[bulmercke]

By all accounts a nice fellow. A truly shocking case. R.I.P.

[baboon]

Thistle, I am sorry for the loss of your friend. He clearly did not deserve to die like that. It must be awful for you and his family. I hope the guilty get what they deserve.

[kurgen]

I hope she rots in hel_l.

R.I.P. Toby Charnaud

[Totster]

Nice post Thistle.. such a tragedy

totster

[Thistle]

Thanks for the support. There has been so much rubbish written in the press and about this wealthy man or tycoon. Toby lived pretty much hand to mouth off his bar takings and certainly wasn't an outwardly wealthy man, mainly as he had paid off her debts which were massive. However, with the dozens of articles in the British and Thai press, not one bad word has been said about the man Toby was, and that is because there is nothing bad to say about him. He was a genuinely nice guy, kind, warm, funny, down to earth. There is no dirt on him the press can go to town on so even they have had to admit that all reports are what a great guy he was. His downfall was falling in love and naivity - that is no crime. The evil witch who sent him to an early grave has pleaded her innocence in the UK press today and has lied through her teeth. The minute he went missing everyone in Hua Hin was sure who was behind it as no-one trusted her as far as they could throw her. She brings shame on her country. I miss you mate. xxx

[chonabot]

RIP Toby

[Mossfinn]

Commiserations to you Thistle, I havn't read any news stories about this unhappy episode except what you have written.

He appears a good bloke, may he rest in peace.

Moss

[johnh101]

Again my commiserations to the guy and his son.

Regarding the British Press I saw an article in the Sun on Friday which purported to be a short story written by Toby which predicted his death.

[Noel]

My sincere condolences to Toby Charnaud's family and friends.

May he rest in peace.

Below is the story that Toby reportedly wrote:

Rainfall by Toby Charnaud

Guy's fingers trembled as he lit yet another cigarette, the previous one still smouldering in the ashtray. His hands felt clammy and he was sweating, despite the chill blast from the air-conditioning. There was a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach. This was the most terrible thing he had done in his life, and the waiting was the hardest part.

He walked across to the window and stared out at the cityscape in front of him. Bangkok, shrouded in cloud. The rain had started and soon it would close in, relentless and oppressive. It hard rained like that the night he had met her, nearly three years ago.

He had been trawling through the bars of Soi Cowboy with Greg, a good friend and an old Bangkok hand. They had been out in the street flirting with the "welcome" girls when the rain came, forcing them to take refuge on one of the bars.

It had been a standard go-go bar, and they had sat down on the bench seats around the outside and ordered a couple of beers. Half a dozen girls were dancing, their movements nothing more than going through the motions in time with the bland Thai pop music. One of the girls caught his eye. She was very petite, even for a Thai girl, with huge eyes. She smiled, a gorgeous lop-sided smile that lit up her whole face.

After her shift she came over, demurely holding out a dainty hand.

""Hello. My name Fon, may I sit down?"

He was taken with her politeness and her beauty. They laughed at the coincidence of her name and the random selection of the bar because of the rain, Fon being the Thai ward for rain. It was an omen and he was smitten.

He had spent the rest of that trip with her, and the next one, contrived just a couple of months later. He had heard all the stories of how a relationship with a bargirl was domed to fail. But those stories were not about Fon, she was different. Greg had tried to tell him that they all said that, "this one is different", but he ignored him, and it was too late now.

Outside the rain closed in, the visibility dropped, the grey skies pushing in from all sides. He checked his wallet, the tickets were there, but there were still a couple of hours to go. There was an empty bottle of Mekong whisky on the table, maybe the last he would ever drink. He considered going to buy another, but couldn't face braving the downpour, and suddenly the thought of the cheap sweet taste made him feel sick.

He had known it would be difficult to get a visa for Fon to come to England, so had used the opportunity to do what he had dreamed about, to take off to pastures new. He sold his modest share portfolio and rented out his house and moved to Bangkok . He knew he would have no trouble finding a teaching job, but Greg was able to find him work in IT, to which he was more suited and paid far better.

Which, as it turned out, was no bad thing, as the problems with Fon started almost immediately. Nothing too much to begin with, and mostly about money. Then there was the not coming back to the apartment when she said, or coming back drunk. They would fight, she would cry, and then would smile with that extraordinary lop-sided smile and look at him with those huge eyes and he would forgive her. Always. As she knew he would.

But it didn't get better. There were more problems and more fights. They made the decision to move out of Bangkok. They went to Hua Hin on the gulf coast a couple of hours south. They found a suitable business available, a small bar and restaurant. Fon would run it and it would provide her with her own source of income. There was enough IT work available for Guy even in a town like Hua Hin. It seemed like the ideal solution.

Instead things soon got worse. It wasn't just the money, that was still as bad as ever, despite the business appearing to do well, but the lies started. Again they would fight and again she would cry and he would feel guilty.

He wanted to walk away, but couldn't, and her eyes would do their magic and he would take her into his arms.

Then came the stories of other men, customers in her bar, an old boyfriend from her Cowboy days. He couldn't believe them and tried to ignore them, but on top of everything else it was too much. This time when he confronted her she became angry and denied everything. He believer her, he had to, he loved her too much and this time it had been his turn to back down and apologise.

While they lived in Hua Hin he got to know Boy. Boy was a tuk-tuk driver, a regular Thai guy. They would play pool together and talk football, and they became good friends. People told him that you shouldn't trust a Thai man, but Boy would never ask for money or accept any favours. He introduced him to his brother, Daeng. Daeng was a cop, not high ranking but with influence. He didn't have the same charm as Boy, and was always sponging drinks and chatting up the girls in the bar, who were very wary with him. However, he was a useful contact to have.

Then it happened. He caught Fon. He had gone to Bangkok to pick up some computer parts and had planned to have a night out with Greg, but Greg had been sick so he returned that evening. Fon was in a bed with this guy, a Dane, a regular customer in the bar. He didn't wait, he didn't want to hear. He left and three days later was back in England.

As soon as he arrived he started to miss Thailand, the food, the climate, the lifestyle. And he missed Fon. She called him constantly saying how sorry she was, what a mistake she had made, how she would never do it again, how much she loved him and how different it would be when he came back.

He held out for a short while, but he couldn't put her behind him. Every time he closed his eyes he saw that funny smile and those lovely, lovely eyes.

He went back. It got worse. He could not stop loving her, but she lied more and more, she cheated more and more. It was as if knew that by getting him back she had won. The though of leaving again, or just leaving her at all broke him up but he knew that if he stayed it would destroy him.

Then it came to him. There was a way of dealing with this Thai-style. He spoke to Boy. Boy said he knew how to deal with it.

It was Boy he was waiting for now. It was too late to stop what he had put in motion, and although he had huge misgivings he was desperate and knew it was the only thing that he could do.

Beside the television there was a manila envelope. He opened it and counted the money again. 60,000 Baht. He had already paid 20,000 baht with the rest to be handed over when the job was done. Having paid for his airline tickets it was all the money he had left. He had been concerned about what would happen to Boy, but Daeng would take care of that. Perhaps he would have to spend a couple of months as a monk in a forest wat, but the disappearance of an Isaan peasant's daughter in a distant town would hardly be investigated and would soon be forgotten.

He looked out of the window. The rain had eased and the skies were lifting. Soon the sun would come out again. He stubbed out the cigarette and lit another one. Already he began to feel better.

There was a knock on the door. Peering through the spyhole he saw Boy. He looked relaxed; he hardly even looked wet. He opened the door to let him in.

Boy looked at him, his gaze steady.

"Finish" was all he said.

The heavy feeling in his stomach moved up to his heart and his eyes blurred. For the first time it was not just guilt or regret he felt but real remorse. He couldn't look at Boy and turned away to pick up the money.

"60,000." He paused, "I must go now Boy."

Boy nodded as he took the cash.

"Take a good journey, my friend, "he said."

Guy forced himself to look up. His eyes widened with shock as he saw the gun pointing at him. He didn't understand, couldn't take in what he saw. His last thought, bizarrely, was that the silencer was as big as the gun.

The girl slipped into the room. She was tiny with large brown eyes. She looked at the body on the floor, then at the man slipping the gun back into the waistband of his jeans. The expression on her face was of regret, sorrow and bewilderment. It passed quickly and she turned to Boy.

"Come on, tilac, let's go," he said.

She gave him a quick lop-sided smile and took his hand as they left the room.