Body of missing Scottish dad Steve Balfour is found in police morgue in Thailand

[Here we are again]

RIP Steve.

This should be a lesson to ALL the foreigners who think that they are welcome to Thailand.

But my guess is that tomorrow the following foreigner is digging his grave in Thailand.

This is Pattaya, a massive city of brothels. It is a LONG way from the real Thailand.

I feel sad for the little girl. Not only is she being brought up in such a hellhole of a city but one day she will find out exactly what happened to her dad by using google.

Obviously you have rose tinted glasses if you think the rest of Thailand is any different to Pattaya. The bars restaurants and businesses are all run by Thai's so must be representative of the country as a whole.

[MyFrenU]

"it's full of mad ex convicts"

Where,Australia?

[freestyle]

jealous of Pattaya......that's just brilliant.......absolutely brilliant.........that takes some incredible thinking and logic to conceive of such a notion......Pattaya, is what is, a sxxthole for expats with no brains, the dudes who could never have a normal relationship

In their own country......a losers paradise.....enjoy

I love pattaya, i always holiday there.

Fact is true, i prefer the loose contacts without strings attached.

I prefer freedom over a long relationship.

So i guess i am a loser. Luckily for me losers have a paradise.

Now i go drink my cup of tea, while the peeps with brains can continue pissing vinegar until it burns...

[MyFrenU]

"The bar where the large American knocked Steve out has some rave reviews"

What's the name of it?Don't keep us in suspense!

[Sawan Chan 7]

jealous of Pattaya......that's just brilliant.......absolutely brilliant.........that takes some incredible thinking and logic to conceive of such a notion......Pattaya, is what is, a sxxthole for expats with no brains, the dudes who could never have a normal relationship

In their own country......a losers paradise.....enjoy

I love pattaya, i always holiday there.

Fact is true, i prefer the loose contacts without strings attached.

I prefer freedom over a long relationship.

So i guess i am a loser. Luckily for me losers have a paradise.

Now i go drink my cup of tea, while the peeps with brains can continue pissing vinegar until it burns...

I've never heard prostitutes being called "loose contacts" before

[webfact]

Friends set up fund to bring home body of former Scots soldier from Thai morgue
Samantha Croal, Digital Live Editor


Friends set up fund to bring home body of former Scots soldier from Thai morgue

GLASGOW: -- Friends of a Scottish father found in a Thai police morgue have set up a crowdfunding page to raise funds so they can bring him home.

Former soldier Steve Balfour, 35, from Fife was in Pattaya to visit his estranged wife Nan Kidaw and their six-year-old daughter Georgina when he went missing on June 14.

Friends and family had launched an online appeal for information about the missing 35-year-old who served in the Royal Scots until 2010.

His body was discovered in a room above a bar on June 15 but he was taken to a Bankok police station as an unidentified foreigner.

Full story: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14570106.Friends_set_up_fund_to_bring_home_body_of_former_Scots_solider_from_Thai_morgue/

-- herald scotland 2016-06-22

[Jonathan Fairfield]

We appreciate there is a lot of interest in this story but please show some respect and keep the insensitive comments to yourself.

Please respect that someone has died and a young child has lost her father, parents have lost their son.

[lvr181]

How about finding and jailing who ever was involved,

This is the RTP you're talking about!

It sure isn't Scotland Yard (or any other modern, first world, Police force) in LOS

[D3030]

Is it me? Body in room or found in Morgue? WHICH IS IT.?

Both... In that order..

[kandi]

Friends set up fund to bring home body of former Scots soldier from Thai morgue

Samantha Croal, Digital Live Editor

Friends set up fund to bring home body of former Scots soldier from Thai morgue

GLASGOW: -- Friends of a Scottish father found in a Thai police morgue have set up a crowdfunding page to raise funds so they can bring him home.

Former soldier Steve Balfour, 35, from Fife was in Pattaya to visit his estranged wife Nan Kidaw and their six-year-old daughter Georgina when he went missing on June 14.

Friends and family had launched an online appeal for information about the missing 35-year-old who served in the Royal Scots until 2010.

His body was discovered in a room above a bar on June 15 but he was taken to a Bankok police station as an unidentified foreigner.

Full story: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14570106.Friends_set_up_fund_to_bring_home_body_of_former_Scots_solider_from_Thai_morgue/

-- herald scotland 2016-06-22

He died on May 15, not June. There's more information about the case in this article:

http://www.farang-deaths.com/case/steve-balfour/

[D3030]

RIP Steve.

This should be a lesson to ALL the foreigners who think that they are welcome to Thailand.

But my guess is that tomorrow the following foreigner is digging his grave in Thailand.

The lessing should be..

** Don't walk around in Thailand, with other than a Tatoo as your Identification.

Because, this could have happened to anyone..

Taking weeks, for your family, to find out you died..

The other unfortunate part..

Steve made sure his wife would get blamed, if something did happen to him..

Hopefully, he did have a huge life insurance policy, that his daughter should get..

Edited June 22, 2016 by D3030

[Wilsonandson]

How about finding and jailing who ever was involved,

This is what I was trying to do. By looking for the source of the news reports to gain clues. Not being insensitive. The bar the large American was in that knocked Steve out was in Pattaya one news. I then searched facebook and found the review. I didn't get the convict part until another poster pointed it out. As I said before I was just trying to help.

Obviously it can be seen from another angle due to my post on sex and violence sells. This was merely to state that fact. I have already apologised if I upset anyone.

If the case is sensitive then why publish it on a public forum? You are always going to get both negative and positive comments. I was trying to state my first feelings on this then help try to find the source of the story on the internet. That is all.

[Nasrullah]

""The resort’s manager, Mike Williams, told how he was knocked unconscious by a “large American” in a bar before he went missing."

That was in the night of may 14.

In the early hours of may 15 this happened to steve:

http://www.dailystar...ssion-wild-rompny

"She reports the foreigner died in the early hours of Sunday, May 15 after hitting his head on a wall during a wild romp with a ladyboy at a hotel in Pattaya."

As you see, his head has taken more then 1 hit that night..."

Good bit of detective work there,so it was murder!

Do you believe the story or the word of a friend who said he was hit months ago?

He wasn't the only one to say that it happened months before either.

o

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Who else said it happened months ago?...I can't find any report/quote on this?.....only the 2 poster GOLDEN TRIANGLE who claims to be

a friend of steve!....

Australian ex-cop said it happened recently but didn't elaborate(2days 5 days 6 months ago as golden triangle says??)...

I think this is an important fact to establish now upon results of the autopsy!

[Cockwomble]

How about finding and jailing who ever was involved,

This is what I was trying to do. By looking for the source of the news reports to gain clues. Not being insensitive. The bar the large American was in that knocked Steve out was in Pattaya one news. I then searched facebook and found the review. I didn't get the convict part until another poster pointed it out. As I said before I was just trying to help.

Obviously it can be seen from another angle due to my post on sex and violence sells. This was merely to state that fact. I have already apologised if I upset anyone.

If the case is sensitive then why publish it on a public forum? You are always going to get both negative and positive comments. I was trying to state my first feelings on this then help try to find the source of the story on the internet. That is all.

Its been statedca few times, wven by friends of Steve that the incibwnt with the American happened 6 months ago.

As so many were quick to accuse the ex wife, maybe its time to give it a rest and understand that it probably was a tragic accident.

[williamgeorgeallen]

RIP Steve.

This should be a lesson to ALL the foreigners who think that they are welcome to Thailand.

But my guess is that tomorrow the following foreigner is digging his grave in Thailand.

The lessing should be..

** Don't walk around in Thailand, with other than a Tatoo as your Identification.

Because, this could have happened to anyone..

Taking weeks, for your family, to find out you died..

The other unfortunate part..

Steve made sure his wife would get blamed, if something did happen to him..

Hopefully, he did have a huge life insurance policy, that his daughter should get..

sounds like the guy had his wallet but it went missing. if there is some sort of payout i hope the mother can manage it efficiently. also hope someone finds out what happened. after a month is may be hard to find out what is in his blood or urine.

[grumpyoldman]

First off as mentioned by a mod, condolences to the family, they lost a son, the daughter a father, horrendous....

That being said it is strange the time that passed between the death and the "discovery" in the police morgue. That in itself is really suspicious.

Don't mean to be insensitive, don't mean to be a TV speculating inspector Clouseau, but making the scene as seedy/embarrassing as possible, would that not possibly keep people from looking into it further?

Again my apologies to family and friends, nothing ever surprises me regarding these strange deaths in Thailand, not after the Koh Tao fiasco for sure.

[goodheart555]

Thailand is a country where the chance of getting murdered is very high, contract killing you name it. I would venture to say it must be one of the highest in the world and you can most likely get away with it, that is probably why, it is not that the police are incompetent but it is because they are a mafia in uniform.

Is it just in scumbag cities like Pattaya?...No....it just happened in the village where I live and I ran into an other westerner who said it happened in his village too, both cases where a wife hiring some body to kill their husband.

So Pattaya scumbag city? yes of course....Thailand scumbag country...let you think on that...

[bprinceuk]

R.I.P Steve

[Sawan Chan 7]

Is the ex-wife from Buriram, the same as the ladyboy?

He was obviously getting death threats from his ex-wife as he told family/friends where to look. So are they looking?

[Leburn]

As the other thread is likely to be closed, I'll repeat my question.

Why couldn't the Thai police manage to match up missing person reports to dead bodies found?

There can't be that many white males found dead in Pattaya every night.

Person missing on 14 May, dead body found on 15 May. This isn't rocket science.

I think the problem is easier when we see the final result. When you finish reading a police novel (Agatha Christie and others), you find obvious when you see puzzle pieces in place. When Balfour's family and friends were searching Steve, they never thought he would be dead at the moment and they reported him as missing. It's only two weeks after they fear that Steve was probably dead. On the other side, they had that man dead drunk with a ladyboy on Walking Street. Even Balfour's family could not link the unknown dead farang could be Steve, they were aware of that dead farang because the news was widely spread. More, they knew that Steve has no identity with him and the dead man on Walking Street too and no one had linked the two affairs.

From what I've heard, police does not give informations about this case, not even the name of the ladyboy implicated. I wouldn't be surprise that they are investigating seriously this case. Remember the Erawan shrine bomber, journalists were complaining that police were not given enough infos...

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

Why do his friends need to set up a fund to have this man sent home?

His embassy and government should should foot the bill to repatriate him so that a proper autopsy can be performed as Thailand cannot be trusted to do this.

These seem like very dodgy circumstances to me.

[apalink_thailand]

OK, I am confused. He checked into a hotel, presumably giving his name and nationality etc. Ladyboy reported the incident immediately but there was no ID to identify the man (wallet missing?). Victim was knocked out by a punch earlier in the night and then knocked himself to death, later, in the throws of passion. I don't mean this to sound insensitive but presumably, he was working from behind on the ladyboy so how the hell did he whack his head on a wall? Victim unidentified for over a month and sitting in a morgue. Is it just me or does this whole story seem very strange?

RIP to the man and condolences to the family.

Edited June 22, 2016 by apalink_thailand

[mcfish]

 

Why do his friends need to set up a fund to have this man sent home?

His embassy and government should should foot the bill to repatriate him so that a proper autopsy can be performed as Thailand cannot be trusted to do this.

These seem like very dodgy circumstances to me.

 

The British Embassy have been fully briefed on the circumstances and any forensic evidence available. Unlike insanely paranoid TV arm chair experts who believe he was dragged down walking st by a lady boy and a big american and then dragged upstairs above a go go while being a dead , all at the instigation of his ex wife who was at the scene to pay every one off
No the person in charge of these things at the embassy has half a brain is NOT going to waste tax payers money on the above theory and rightly so!!

Edited June 22, 2016 by mcfish

[luckyman]

Rip to the poor guy.

Just for good measure, we are all been told his wife was crazy and dangerous, yet no media have even tried to get her side of the story.

Donot understand why he came here if he was so afraid it could cause his death just by coming here.

Donot understand either why he travelled without proper insurance.

Now they donot have the funds to bring him home, which is very expensive.

Sending a dead body to Europe is 10 times as costly as a normal air ticket, do not know why.

[Aussieroaming]

RIP

[tukkytuktuk]

Found this news article with an additional crime scene photo.

http://www.108story.com/s/141862

[goodheart555]

Found this news article with an additional crime scene photo.

http://www.108story.com/s/141862

Who are all the nincompoops in the room with him?

My nightmare is to die in Thailand and be surrounded Thai idiots taking my picture.

[Patsycat]

Even after posters and mods asking you lot to tone it down a bit,

You still have to bring your dirty little minds into this thread.

Leave it alone, relive your sexual fantasies,or lack of, elsewhere.

[tukkytuktuk]

This Facebook page from Pattaya news might hold clues.

https://m.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1601501346834825&id=1421513211500307

If not appropriate then delete post.

[Veritas48]

As the other thread is likely to be closed, I'll repeat my question.

Why couldn't the Thai police manage to match up missing person reports to dead bodies found?

There can't be that many white males found dead in Pattaya every night.

Person missing on 14 May, dead body found on 15 May. This isn't rocket science.

I think the problem is easier when we see the final result. When you finish reading a police novel (Agatha Christie and others), you find obvious when you see puzzle pieces in place. When Balfour's family and friends were searching Steve, they never thought he would be dead at the moment and they reported him as missing. It's only two weeks after they fear that Steve was probably dead. On the other side, they had that man dead drunk with a ladyboy on Walking Street. Even Balfour's family could not link the unknown dead farang could be Steve, they were aware of that dead farang because the news was widely spread. More, they knew that Steve has no identity with him and the dead man on Walking Street too and no one had linked the two affairs.

From what I've heard, police does not give informations about this case, not even the name of the ladyboy implicated. I wouldn't be surprise that they are investigating seriously this case. Remember the Erawan shrine bomber, journalists were complaining that police were not given enough infos...

OK as a friend and golf partner of Steve let me clear a few things up:The incident where Steve was pushed off a stool onto a tiled floor was several months ago and Steve got up off the floor and then passed out.

Now one of the reasons that he was not reported missing until three or four weeks after he was last seen was the fact that he was on leave and not due back at work for a month so many of us thought that he had gone off somewhere enjoying himself....Steve would often put his name down for golf and then not turn up.He was a young man on holiday!

It was only later that his room was checked and his passport and clothes were still there and no sign of him having returned to the room to change his clothes etc that the manager started to think something was wrong.

I personally cannot understand why he was moved to Bangkok without some effort to identify him here in Pattaya and I remain suspicious of these circumstances.Hope this post helps with a few of the details.