British Resident found dead at his North Pattaya home

[mikiea]

Amazing how people immediately jump to the conclusion that foul play involved. Far more likely a tragic accident. Wait for the autopsy results.

There are way too many farangs jumping off high buildings, drowning in pools, being found hanged, or being found dead with no explanation. More than one a day in Pattaya alone. Would you trust a Thai autopsy to give the correct cause of death if there was foul play?

Yes, some of these are probably not suicides, but there are a number of reasons why the numbers here may seem unusually high (i.e., our 'benchmarks' may fool us).

• These things don't get reported back home (unless you come from a smaller town where everything gets reported); basically every farang death gets reported here in the 'farang news'; a Nigerian falling from a balcony may not get reported.
• These things are more salient because many people strongly self-identify here as 'farangs' - when a farang dies we notice it more. [We might not notice the story of the Nigerian who fell from the balcony if it actually did make the news].
• There is corruption in the system, so it is plausible that murderers can get away with making things look like a suicide.
• Building safety (height of railing, type of groundwork around a pool, etc) is of a lower standard here.
• The 'sample' of farangs staying in Thailand is not representative of the population 'back home'... there may be an understandably higher incidence of suicide among the farang population here. There is probably more use of alcohol (and perhaps drugs) here, fewer people have work responsibilities to engage them, some people may have come here to escape unhappiness at home, some people may feel more isolated here, some people may fall for the 'love you long time darling', etc, etc. etc. [Of course, I'm not talking about you or me, reader ]

Factors 1 to 3 contribute to our heightened attention to suicides and our greater suspicion around them. Factors 4 and 5 contribute to a higher baseline of actual suicides. So the real numbers are probably higher, and our perceptions are exaggerrated beyond that....huh could you say that again? i fell asleep first time around. .. thanks

[petercool]

some troll posts removed

[i claudius]

When my wife has to go away ,she tries to make sure our son is here to be with me ,if i die i hope all the usuall suspects dont come out of the woodwork to say that she made sure that she was away so our son could do away with me for the money.well she is a lot younger than me and our son would love to have a car.

[Spaniel]

Look wifey was in Bangers, the painter had gone to lunch. He was only 57 years old and he had a bruise to the head.

Too many co-incidences.

Where's "Bangers"?

[MrWorldwide]

Accidents absolutely do happen - in 8 months in central Pattaya, the only Thai to 'lay a glove on me' has been a set of stairs in a darkened cinema and it could easily have been fatal if my shoulder hadnt taken the brunt of the fall on the way down. 6-8 inches higher and it would have been my neck : a fact that was not lost on me when I saw the mess I'd made of my shoulder. The issue here is whether the Police will do their jobs or not - not a lot of followup in those PattayaOne stories : Howard likes his tabloid headlines to be fresh and confronting, not dated and reassuring.

Edited December 22, 2014 by MrWorldwide

[shirtless]

The water yesterday was freezing he could have a heart attack simply from the cold water.

[gandalf12]

How about he was by the pool, slipped on some water and hit his head. This caused a rupture in the blood in his head and he died?

Nothing mysterious. Many years ago a child was killed whilst playing catch with his father. The object, a soft slipper, that they were throwing his the child on the head and he died of a hemorrhage

[MrWorldwide]

The water yesterday was freezing he could have a heart attack simply from the cold water.

Not sure if that explains the bruise on his head unless he banged it thrashing around in the water, but I'll leave that to the board's forensics experts.

[kwak250]

The water yesterday was freezing he could have a heart attack simply from the cold water.

Careful some people may ask how you knew his pool was freezing

[starky]

Well why aren't people allowed to make their own judgements or call this one suspicious? There would have to be some room for speculation here surely. All those who are so quick to judge the "conspiracy theorists" or TV CSI. I would rather have those people on side than those that are so quick to just swallow the first thing they hear and are happy to believe everything they are told by the Thai media and RTP. Let's be honest there are thousands of suspicious deaths here. I know if it was me I would want family and friends pushing to find out the whole story. Accident or not.

[ATF]

Look wifey was in Bangers, the painter had gone to lunch. He was only 57 years old and he had a bruise to the head.

Too many co-incidences.

Where's "Bangers"?

Bangkok.

[Colabamumbai]

We are all going to be "found dead" someday.

[Bernard Flint]

Seems like there are many conspiracy theorists on TV, but they are all still alive, unless all of them have boy friends, not ladies

[Hanuman2547]

Amazing how people immediately jump to the conclusion that foul play involved. Far more likely a tragic accident. Wait for the autopsy results.

You've got 55 posts - surely you're aware of the conspiracists that lurk here in their thousands - by the time this ones wound up, it will be the polices fault, the girlfriend killed him, tourism is doomed and Thailand ain't what it use to be blah blah blah

Perhaps he only has 55 posts, but maybe he's just not a TV regular but has been around for awhile.

I've got less than 100 posts on here, but I've been involved with Thais and Thailand since 1979 and worked in BKK for 12 years. The number of posts doesn't tell the whole story.

[berybert]

1 in 2,400 British tourists dies in Thailand, perhaps more if you add in Expats. Either way you slice it, it's another tragic death by unnatural means in the Kingdom.

Expats don't count as tourist, but even if they did the amount would be less rather than more as there are far more expats living in places that are not Thailand.

[transam]

There are some stupid people on this forum. He's more than old enough to have had a heart attack or similar such event. His wife was away on business and as yet this hadn't been disproved but some of you don't understand this. Muppet brigade out in full force with your insensitive comments. To be honest, you're no better at solving these mysterious events than the RTP.

I was going to post but I might upset you so I won't....

But, RIP chap..............

[Beetlejuice]

We do not know the actual cause of death and perhaps we will never know, so at this stage there is no point in guessing. But what it seems according to all the reports I have read over the years, most here on Thai visa, that ex-pats have a better survival rate if they live outside of Pattaya.

[berybert]

Has anyone actually died of natural causes in Thailand ? Since I have lived it and read forums like this one, it seems that everyone who has died has been killed but it got covered up.

The wife was away. HA likely story. The painter was in the house. The painter loves the wife the wife loves the painter. The painter killed the husband so they could be together.

Colombo eat your heart out.

[transam]

Has anyone actually died of natural causes in Thailand ? Since I have lived it and read forums like this one, it seems that everyone who has died has been killed but it got covered up.

The wife was away. HA likely story. The painter was in the house. The painter loves the wife the wife loves the painter. The painter killed the husband so they could be together.

Colombo eat your heart out.

"So far" I have lost two very good friends by very natural causes.............

[flyingdoc]

Why do so many people jump to conclusions, rather than wait for facts / autopsy findings?

[Suradit69]

how convenient the wife away on business ..............yer right

RIP

Thai Visa certainly ensures that no farang will ever be allowed to die in Pattaya without a proper send-off by the conspiracy theorists, the Bar Stool Crime Scene Investigators (BS-CSI) and all the other knuckle-dragging nutters.

Sorry that he died and sorry that he, his wife & family are being denied a little dignity and respect at this time.

[berybert]

Why do so many people jump to conclusions, rather than wait for facts / autopsy findings?

Because a lot of people have nothing better to do.

May I ad that I find it rather unpleasant the way the mans body just seems to have been dumped on the pavement.

Edited December 22, 2014 by berybert

[Fireyfish]

I just rejoined after not having posted for a few years .... however i do read Thai Visa quite often and I just have to ask ... there are so many negative whingers posting comments on most posts .... why the F do you live in LOS if its so damned bad ..... it is so much better in your homelands no?

[transam]

I just rejoined after not having posted for a few years .... however i do read Thai Visa quite often and I just have to ask ... there are so many negative whingers posting comments on most posts .... why the F do you live in LOS if its so damned bad ..... it is so much better in your homelands no?

No country is perfect, so think there will always be fores and against in any of them........

Vote Trans........... ................

[Hanuman2547]

Has anyone actually died of natural causes in Thailand ? Since I have lived it and read forums like this one, it seems that everyone who has died has been killed but it got covered up.

Sure have. I've had a number of friends that have passed away from natural causes. They were all long term expats that had lived 20-30 years here.

[Suradit69]

Well why aren't people allowed to make their own judgements or call this one suspicious? There would have to be some room for speculation here surely. All those who are so quick to judge the "conspiracy theorists" or TV CSI. I would rather have those people on side than those that are so quick to just swallow the first thing they hear and are happy to believe everything they are told by the Thai media and RTP. Let's be honest there are thousands of suspicious deaths here. I know if it was me I would want family and friends pushing to find out the whole story. Accident or not.

"I know if it was me I would want family and friends pushing to find out the whole story. Accident or not."

Posting childish speculation on an Internet message board has nothing to do with "pushing to find out" anything, and I doubt you would want or expect any of your friends or family to consider this an opportunity to start posting on Thai Visa.

It's just a bunch of bored layabouts trying to have a natter with other thumb-twiddlers in order to elevate their mutual sense of drama.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Suradit69

[HansIsaan]

The body was found at 4pm. When the medics and the police arrived the wife was there already. She said she was in Bangkok, but returned home as soon as she heard that her husband was dead.

If I read things like that I start to wonder, but it could also be that the newspaper was a little `confused`.

[MrWorldwide]

Well why aren't people allowed to make their own judgements or call this one suspicious? There would have to be some room for speculation here surely. All those who are so quick to judge the "conspiracy theorists" or TV CSI. I would rather have those people on side than those that are so quick to just swallow the first thing they hear and are happy to believe everything they are told by the Thai media and RTP. Let's be honest there are thousands of suspicious deaths here. I know if it was me I would want family and friends pushing to find out the whole story. Accident or not.

And exactly how many of your TV 'friends' do you think would do something beyond banging their keyboards in the event of your death ? Unless you know someone here personally and you know they'll stand by you - not an easy assumption in Thailand - I find your statement extraordinary. I can live with skepticism re the willingness of the BiB to just write this off as death by misadventure, but the assumption that the people on this board could somehow influence their actions strikes me as fanciful. How many years have we been ranting about Tim Sharky Ward and the Red Bull heir, to no apparent effect ?

Occasionally you will see TV mentioned in a news story re something like the visa crackdown, but beyond that I'm not aware of any particular influence over what happens in the mainstream media - happy to hear otherwise. By all means, air your suspicions, but I'm more interested in reading a followup on this case than reading countless 'the painter did it' posts on Thaivisa.

[Luxfare]

Why do so many people jump to conclusions, rather than wait for facts / autopsy findings?

I think it might have something to do with the fact that their lives are so dull that they have to make stuff up even relating to other people.

All I read on here is "must have been the mafia", " must have been his wife" etc etc. They watch so much television that they cannot accept that of the hundreds of thousands of foreigners out here that some might actually die through natural causes or mis adventure.......more Walter Mittys on here than sane people.

[Rimmer]

Some troll posts have been removed