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Two Burmese men arrested over British backpacker murders in Thailand Murder of British backpackers on Koh Tao solved, say Thai police
(about 5 hours later)
Two migrant workers from Burma were formally arrested on Friday after police said they had confessed to killing two British backpackers whose bodies were found on a beach in southern Thailand last month. Police in Thailand say they have solved the murder of two British backpackers found dead on a holiday island after a pair of Burmese migrant workers confessed to killing Hannah Witheridge and David Miller.
Thailand’s national police chief, Somyot Poompanmoung, said DNA results released late on Thursday night backed up the confessions of the two men that they had raped and killed 23-year-old Hannah Witheridge and murdered 24-year-old David Miller on Koh Tao, an island known for its pristine diving sites. The Burmese workers were taken to the area where the Britons’ bodies were found as part of a “reconstruction” orchestrated by Thai police.
Police identified the 21-year-old workers from Burma’s western Rakhine state as “Win” and “Saw”. Both were detained on the island on Thursday and questioned by police who brought them to the crime scene on Friday to re-enact their alleged crimes, a standard part of criminal investigations in Thailand. However, as Thai authorities said they hoped the double killing last month would no longer hamper Thailand’s vital tourism industry, human rights observers said they were suspicious of confessions given apparently without the suspects having access to lawyers.
Crowds of onlookers watched as the suspects were led to the rocky alcove along the shore where the two bodies were discovered on 15 September. Autopsies showed that Witheridge had died of head injuries, and that Miller had also suffered severe blows to the head and had drowned in the surf. It is still unclear what prompted the killings. Police dismissed the worries, saying DNA evidence corroborated the confessions, and that the young Burmese men had chosen to not have legal assistance.
During the re-enactment, the two men wore flak jackets and motorcycle helmets as protection against angry residents, who fear the crime will damage tourism to the remote island. The bodies of Witheridge, 23, from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, and Miller, 24, from Jersey, were found together on a beach on Koh Tao, a popular destination with young foreign tourists, on 15 September. Postmortem examinations showed Witheridge died of head injuries, while Miller had also suffered severe blows to the head and had drowned in the surf.
“There was clear evidence: forensic evidence, witnesses and other evidence, as well as closed-circuit television footage,” Somyot told reporters. “The police and investigation teams have analysed all evidence and it’s clear that the two suspects committed the crime on that day.” An initially chaotic police investigation saw media and onlookers trample over the murder scene and the focus fall variously on Burmese workers and British brothers who had travelled with Miller, before Thailand’s national head of police, Somyot Poompanmoung, intervened.
The two face charges of murder, rape and theft, but have not yet been formally charged, he said. They are expected to remain in custody until they are taken to court. On Friday, Somyot said that the two suspects, identified only as Win, 21, and Saw, 23, had both admitted raping Witheridge and killing the Britons. DNA samples from the men matched that found on the bodies, he added.
About 2.5 million people from Burma work in Thailand, most of them as domestic servants or in low-skilled manual labour in the construction, fisheries or garment industries. The police chief said sexual jealousy was the motive: “The suspects saw them kissing and were aroused, so they attacked and got rid of the man and proceeded to rape the female victim.”
Koh Tao, about 250 miles south of Bangkok, is a small, quiet island a short boat ride from Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. The latter is known for raucous full moon parties that attract young foreigners and Thais. He added: “The suspects admitted that they are the real culprits so we have brought both to do a reconstruction.”
Such reconstructions, commonly used by Thai police, involved the Burmese men being led to the rocky alcove where the bodies were found. They wore flak jackets and motorcycle helmets to protect them from a crowd of onlookers.
A third Burmese man also detained is believed to be a witness and is under police protection, the AFP news agency said.
After evidence-gathering was complete police would seek a formal warrant, said Somyot’s deputy, Jaktip Chaijinda: “Today the case should be finished because we want to clear this case up as soon as possible so that our tourism industry can bounce back.”
Some rights groups have expressed worries at the police eagerness to declare the case solved. Burmese migrants, of whom there are about 2.5m in Thailand, mainly working in menial jobs, have previously been wrongly blamed for crimes.
“The suspects have been kept without legal representation. We still don’t have lawyers observing the process directly,” Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, a human rights activist, told Reuters. “So we are suspicious about the judicial process in terms of these alleged confessions.”
Somyot said the men had not requested lawyers: “If they had asked for lawyers we would have provided lawyers for them as this is their basic right.”
Thailand’s tourism industry has suffered in the wake of a coup in May, with the country still under martial law.