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By Times Online and PA
A British student has been found dead in the sea off Thailand during a two week new year break with a female friend.
The body of Katherine Horton, 21, a psychology student from Thornhill, Cardiff, south Wales, was discovered in the sea off the island of Koh Samui by a jet skier earlier today.
Ms Horton’s mother, Elizabeth Horton, spoke of her devastation after learning of her daughter’s sudden death. “We know so little,” said Mrs Horton from her home in Cardiff. “One of my sons knows what has happened but we are still trying to contact his brother to break the news.”
One family friend, who did not wish to be named, said she believed Ms Horton was a second year psychology student at Reading University. She said she had flown out to Thailand with a female friend on December 27 after celebrating Christmas with her family.
“It was only a short backpacking holiday with a girlfriend. They were due back on January 10,” the friend said. “While they were out there they met up with other friends and it was one of them who actually phoned to break the news today. The girl she went out there with is inconsolable and couldn’t speak.
“We have had no official information at all. We simply don’t know what happened. The family are trying to find out what exactly has happened but there is no news at the moment.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said tonight that Ms Horton’s body was discovered in the sea by a jet-skier at 10am local time today. She was last seen alive on Sunday night. “Police are investigating her death,” the spokesman added.
This morning on Thai national radio they mentioned that Ms. Horton’s death was not an accident. After examining the body officials concured that she was beaten with a blunt instrument.and then brought out to sea. As of now her father is flying to Thailand from Wales and her brother is traveling up from Australia to claim the body. There’s no further info on this story…
The latest on this story is that police have detained 3 farangs (foreigners) that could have been implicated in Ms. Horton’s death. I just scaned today’s front cover of the Bagkok Post and saw the story. Actually there have been 3 or 4 deaths of foreigners during the holiday season, go figure. A 25 year old german guy died from stab wounds he got from his Tha girl friend, not unusual really. Another foreign guy was killed by his neighbors in Cha um for reasons I do not know, and another guy was killed on Ko Chang between Christmas and New Years….meanwhile Thaksin is still alive :-(
Nah Jimbo, you were correct. There was at least a Kiwi and Aussie
held but later released……….. Samui, never been there- never wanted to…..…. from the Times……………….. ;-)
Is Thailand safe?
Reports of the murder of a 21-year-old British student in Thailand at New Year’s Eve have raised concerns over the safety of the holiday destination. News editor Ginny McGrath answers your questionsHas the Foreign and Commonwealth Office changed its advice?
No. The Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to southern provinces parts of Thailand, but these are a long way from the country’s popular holiday resorts including Phuket, Krabi and Koh Samui.
Is Thailand safe for western visitors?
Around 360,000 Britons visit Thailand every year, with the majority of trips trouble free. However, the Foreign Office warns visitors to be wary of taking drinks from strangers due to a number of incidents of drinks being drugged, and warns of a number of cases of sexual assault on foreign men and women.
Less serious crime includes overcharging for journeys by unlicensed taxis, which have black and white licence plates (licensed taxis have yellow and black licence plates).
In its guide to Thailand, Lonely Planet also warns of the dangers of leaving valuables in a hotel safe, with a number of incidents of theft reported in Chiang Mai guesthouses, and says several backpackers have recounted stories of theft on bus journeys between Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
What about Koh Samui?
The Times correspondent Andrew Drummond filed this report from Lamai Beach in Koh Samui on January 3: “Koh Samui is packed out. It’s New Year, the hotels are full and flights on to the island are very difficult to get on to. The popularity of the island has increased because it was not hit by tsunami last year. A lot of British holidaymakers are believed to have switched their holidays from Phuket to Koh Samui and so the authorities are very keen not to damage the island’s reputation as an idyll.
“In fact, there is little known about Koh Samui. It’s very popular with backpackers and tourists but a lot of mainland Thais regard it as a rather dangerous place and are reluctant to come on holiday here.”
In a warning to visitors, the Koh Samui Tourism Association states: “Though exceptionally safe by world standards, like any tourist area Samui has its petty criminals. These individuals are most often present late at night, especially in some of the entertainment areas.”
Have any other Britons been murdered in Thailand in recent years?
Six British nationals have been murdered in Thailand since August 2004. In a well-reported case in August 2000, 23-year-old graduate Kirsty Jones was sexually assaulted and murdered in Chiang Mai.
Is Thailand more dangerous for women?
Both the Foreign Office and Lonely Planet warn women to be vigilant when travelling alone in Thailand following incidents of drinks spiking, sexual assault and pick pocketing.
The Koh Samui Tourism Association is more specific in its advice for female visitors: “Women especially should not accept an invitation from a stranger to walk on the beach at night, no matter how attractive he or she may be.”
Are there any local laws I should be aware of?
The Thai authorities stipulate that tourists carry their passport with them at all times and in some cases visitors have been arrested because they have been unable to produce their passport. Visitors should also be aware of the strict laws governing drugs. Possession of even a small amount of illegal drugs can lead to a lengthy prison sentence and a large fine.
Are there any other dangers for visitors?
An average 38 people are killed in motorbike accidents every day in Thailand according to the Foreign Office, with many tourists ignoring local laws that stipulate safety helmets must be worn. It also warns that in many cases tourists that have been involved in accidents have been unable to recoup costs from their travel insurer because motorbikes of under 50cc are not covered.
According to the Koh Samui Tourism Association, driving or riding on the back of a motorbike is “easily the most dangerous activity for visitors to the region”.
and the NZ Herald……….
NZ man free to go after helping in murder case07.01.06
By Simon O’RourkeThe New Zealander caught up in the murder investigation of a 21-year-old British woman in Thailand had his passport returned last night after a formal court appearance on the island of Koh Samui.
Waikato-born Richard Haskell, 22, one of the last people to see Katherine Horton alive, had been kept on call by Thai police for the past six days.
On New Year’s Day Ms Horton and a girlfriend called Ruth had just joined Mr Haskell and his Australian friend Ben Greig at a restaurant when Ms Horton’s cellphone rang.
She walked away from the group speaking to her mother on the phone, but did not return.
Police said Ms Horton’s mother heard her scream just as the line went dead.
The next day a jetskier found Ms Horton’s body. She was still wearing an evening dress, and had been beaten round the head and body.
An autopsy revealed she had drowned.
Mr Haskell said he had been subjected to intense police inquiries.
He told the Herald he had just met Ms Horton before her phone rang, so he did not know her, although she was “stunning” in appearance.
Yesterday’s court appearance had ended a horror week for him.
On New Year’s Eve at a beach rave, Mr Haskell said, he had consumed a spiked “bucket” of drink, and subsequently lost all memory of the night.
His wallet was stolen during that time.
Meanwhile Mr Greig had met Ms Horton and her companion Ruth.
The next day the four of them got together for a drink and meal at the restaurant.
Finding out what had happened to Ms Horton had been terrifying for everyone, said Mr Haskell.
His experience with Thai authorities had been confusing.
“I’m just feeling sick. It’s definitely something scary – it’s not like getting pulled over for drink-driving back at home.
“It’s just crazy. They speak stuff-all English and they don’t say or tell you much.”
The first night he and Mr Greig had spent six hours at the police station giving a statement.
They then agreed to give a DNA sample, which took a further four hours.
They were released and were heading home on a bus when authorities pulled them over. The pair were taken to a hotel where their passports were seized.
Although they were free to move around the resort, they were not able to leave the country.
Mr Haskell said he would fly to his home on the Gold Coast but planned to return to his parents’ Cambridge home next month.
His father Owen flew in from Bangkok yesterday afternoon to be with him for the court appearance.
His mother Angela said last night the pair hoped to be on the ferry today heading for Bangkok to fly home
Seems they caught those scumbags. I do hope they kill them. It seems the local populace would be more than happy to help the process along.
Killers boasted of rape: police
By Sebastien Berger in Lamai, Thailand
January 11, 2006“Delicious, very delicious,” shouted Bualoi Posit, 23, and Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24, as they climbed back aboard their fishing boat, until told to be quiet by the vessel’s mate.
The men then bragged to other crewmen that “they had just raped a foreigner”, said Lieutenant-General Ajiravid Subarnbhesaj, the national police spokesman. The men, who were taken to Bangkok for forensic tests, matched DNA samples recovered from Ms Horton’s body, police said.
The Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has called for the execution of the pair if they are convicted of Ms Horton’s rape and murder. “They must be sentenced to the harshest possible punishment,” he said.
On Sunday night, after being taken back to the holiday island of Samui, the two men were manhandled by police past onlookers into the investigation centre in handcuffs, their heads bowed.
Police said that after six hours of interrogation, both confessed on Monday to killing Ms Horton, 21, of Cardiff, on New Year’s Day and Bualoi admitted raping her.
Police sources gave extended details of their confessions and other witnesses’ testimony.
The crew of the trawler, in Lamai Bay, were allegedly drinking heavily and watching pornographic DVDs when one of the pair announced: “I want to rape someone”. They swam to shore using empty fuel canisters as floats.
“When they saw Katherine they talked to each other and said ‘This woman is beautiful’,” said Major-General Aswin Kwanmuang, the deputy head of Thailand’s central investigation bureau.
Bualoi, from Ubon Ratchathani, in north-east Thailand, grabbed the psychology student and Wichai beat her on the head with a beach umbrella pole. They did not know that her telephone had fallen into the sand.
“They dragged her by the neck about 30 metres down the beach,” Major-General Aswin said.
Ms Horton may have been semi-conscious or unconscious at the time of the sexual assault.
Police said the last witnesses to see her alive, Chris and Jill Burrows, found Ms Horton’s telephone in the sand, a vital clue in pointing police towards the boat the attackers came from.
The crew will be charged with conspiracy if it is found that Ms Horton was taken to the boat.
Telegraph, London
Execute backpacker’s killers, says Thai PM
(Filed: 10/01/2006)The Prime Minister of Thailand has called for the execution of the two men who confessed to killing British backpacker Katherine Horton.
Local media reported that Thaksin Shinawatra called for the death sentence to be served on Bualoi Posit, 23, and Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24, if found guilty, in order to restore the country’s damaged reputation.
Police say fishermen Posit and Somkhaoyai confessed to killing 21-year-old Miss Horton from Thornhill, Cardiff, on the evening of New Year’s Day. Posit also admits rape.
DNA tests suggest the two men raped the Reading University student following a savage attack using a wooden stick, although Somkhaoyai denies rape.
“They must be sentenced to the harshest possible punishment,” Mr Shinawatra said. “They have caused serious damage to our country’s reputation.
“By giving them the maximum sentence, it will give remedy to the relatives and the British Government and show that we are taking this case seriously.”
Earlier today, hundreds of residents, some brandishing wooden clubs, forced Thai police to cancel a re-enactment of the murder when they broke through security and attacked Posit and Somkhaoyai.
The pair are due to appear in court in 11 days.
13 January 2006, 10:17 GMT BBC
Men face sentence for Thai murder
Katherine Horton (left) was on holiday with friend Ruth Adams
Two fishermen are awaiting sentence for the rape and murder of British student Katherine Horton following their trial in Thailand on Friday.
A court heard how Miss Horton, 21, from Cardiff, was beaten with a parasol pole and later dragged out to sea off Koh Samui where she drowned.Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24 and Bualoi Posit, 23, admitted rape and conspiracy to kill at the court in Surat Thani.
The case has been adjourned until next Wednesday when the men face sentencing.
The fishermen will return to court where the judge will decide whether to pass the maximum sentence of death.
The one-day trial on Friday was told that the men had been watching pornographic films on their boat on the evening of 1 January.
They then swam ashore using plastic petrol cans as buoyancy and attacked Miss Horton on the beach as she talked to her mother on her mobile phone.
The men hit her about the head and shoulders with a parasol pole and took turns to rape her while the other held her down, the trial heard.
After that they dragged her out to sea to a boat and used that to tow her further out, where the Reading University student drowned.
The court heard that a British tourist, Christopher Burrows, who later found Miss Horton’s mobile phone on the beach, heard a faint voice calling out in English: “I’m sinking, I’m sinking.”
The suspects appeared in court at Surat Thani on Friday
The discovery of the mobile phone on the beach led police to investigate fishing boats moored offshore, the trial was told.
Thai officers boarded the boats posing as fish traders, before telling those on board DNA tests would be carried out.
The court was told it was at this point the two men on trial admitted they carried out the murder.
The attack took place at 2100 local time on New Year’s Day, close to where Miss Horton was staying on Lamai Beach, on the island of Koh Samui.
Her body was washed up the next morning on a remote beach a few kilometres away where it was found by a water biker.
The trial on Friday heard from eight witnesses, including police officers, forensic doctors and fishermen.
The fishermen did not address the court directly, but confirmed their earlier statements admitting guilt.
Memorial blessing
Thailand’s prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has declared that the men should face the maximum penalty because of damage done to the country’s image.
The provisional court of Surat Thani is around 330 miles (520 kilometres) south west of the capital Bangkok.
Miss Horton was staying with a friend in bungalows on Lamai beach
Miss Horton had travelled to Thailand with a university friend for a two-week holiday.
She had been on Lamai beach with a group of friends on 1 January, close to the bungalows they had rented, when she is said to have wandered away to speak to her mother on her mobile phone.
Her body was discovered some 12 hours later.
Miss Horton’s funeral will take place on Tuesday at St Isan’s Church, in Llanishen, Cardiff, followed by private cremation.
Meanwhile, a service of prayer for Miss Horton took place on Thursday at Reading University where she was a psychology undergraduate.
A Buddhist memorial blessing in Miss Horton’s memory was held on Thursday on Lamai beach by the people of Koh Samui.
The latest on this story is that the mother of Ms. Horton has asked the Thai government not to impose the death penalty on the two men. After thinking about it I agree with Lee, that death would be too good for them, so let the penalty fit the nature of the crime, I would propose the following. Strap them down in wooden chairs and then hammer spikes into their respective testicles, then leave them to rot in the chairs with the spikes still impaled in their balls. I think that’s fair compensation.
if the evidence and/or confessions are fake, then the people who set them up deserve death for framing innocent people and letting guilty ones go.
but if they are real, i see no reason for not killing them.
mercy for the guilty is cruelty for the innocent.
the situation reminds me of a korean movie i saw called ‘memories of murder’, based on the true story of the events surrounding the investigation of a korean serial killer. great movie, relevant for anyone who has a position on the death penalty or police investigation techniques.
@kilroy wrote:
if the evidence and/or confessions are fake…
I read that forensics were involved. If that’s true, then the chances that they have the wrong people will be billions:1
Forensics were involved?
If forensics were involved in the US, UK or anywhere else with both a reputable scientific establishment and an economy that wouldn’t be devastated by backpackers being raped and murdered, I’d feel a little better about it.
I have never heard of forensic evidence being established in such a short period of time either (the Falconio murder in Australia still had forensic evidence being tested and cross-examined 2 years after the fact), but I guess it’s possible.
And let’s not even go into the problems of exactly what forensics can and cannot prove.
And the guys pleaded guilty? Why would you plea guilty knowing you were going to get death anyway? Wouldn’t you at least fight the case in the off chance that you would get off?
@kilroy wrote:
if the evidence and/or confessions are fake, then the people who set them up deserve death for framing innocent people and letting guilty ones go.
But what if they are just setting up the people who set them up? Kill em all?
THE GUARDIAN , SU-NGAI PADI, THAILAND
Sunday, Jan 29, 2006The Thai soldiers look nervous and bored. In the heat of the day they squat behind sandbagged, camouflaged checkpoints or patrol the streets, riding in pairs on motorcycles, their M-16 rifles pointing skywards.
They watch Su-Ngai Padi’s mostly Muslim population, the women shopping in dazzling pink and yellow robes and headscarves, the men lounging in dusty kopi shops and the locals warily watch them back.
But beyond the town, deep in the rubber plantations and coconut groves, under a covert canopy of banana plants, mango and durian trees, others are also secretly watching. At dusk, as the streets empty and the people slip away, the army’s control slips, too. It is then that the shootings, the random bombings, the disappearances and the fear begin. By day, there is a gritted-teeth pretence of order.
By night, the killers come.
“Everybody in southern Thailand is living in fear, not just the civilians but the government officials, too, because nobody knows who is going to get killed next,” said Abdul Rahman Abdul Samad, coordinator of the region’s Islamic councils.
“The main problem is that people here do not feel they are part of Thailand. We are walking a tightrope between the armed groups in the countryside and the army and police in the towns,” he said.
The separatist Muslim insurgency that flared anew in 2004 in the four southernmost Thai provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala and Songkhla has claimed an estimated 1,200 lives. Violent incidents occur almost daily: Last week there was an attack on police in Pattani and an attempt to blow up a transmitter near Su-Ngai Padi.
Local people and international watchdogs say human-rights abuses by the 30,000-strong security forces have further alienated the area’s 2 million ethnic Malay Muslims from the majority Buddhist population in the north.
A state of emergency imposed by Bangkok, renewed this month, has exacerbated economic and unemployment problems, they say.
Concern is growing that Islamist terrorist networks such as al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, responsible for the Bali bombings, could exploit the unrest.
“The violence is driven by local grievances and there is no evidence of external involvement,” a report by the independent International Crisis Group (ICG) said.
“But if this situation is left to fester it could attract jihadists from outside Thailand,” it said.
Bangkok could become a target.
Pattani and its neighboring provinces were for many centuries an independent Islamic kingdom, founded in the 11th century. That ended abruptly in 1909 when British colonialists, expanding their hold on the Malayan peninsula, signed the Anglo-Siamese treaty and ceded the four provinces to Bangkok. Since the 1960s the region has seen the rise of several indigenous separatist movements spearheaded by the Pattani United Liberation Organization (Pulo).
The current violence is attributed to a bewildering variety of shadowy groups, including the National Revolutionary Front, the Pattani Islamic Mujahidin and New Pulo. But nobody admits to knowing for sure exactly who leads the insurgency or supports it. Its glory days long gone, modern-day Pattani has become a kingdom of fear.
According to Shukat, a shopkeeper in Su-ngai Kolok on the Thai-Malay border, it’s that uncertainty makes the situation more frightening.
“We can’t say who does the bombing and the shooting. Maybe it’s Muslims, maybe it’s drug gangs, maybe the army, we don’t know,” Shukat said.
“The Islamic people say `this country belongs to me, not to the Siamese.’ All the Muslim people here oppose the government. The village people don’t want to talk about it. They are afraid of the army … a bomb exploded near the hotel last August. Now the tourists don’t come. Everyone is scared,” he said.
A local journalist, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said ordinary people were trapped in the middle of the conflict.
“Nobody knows which way to turn. Every day something happens. They make ambushes by throwing nails on the road. When the police cars stop, they shoot,” the journalist said.
But who “they” are he cannot say.
Prateep Chotiwong, a government official, said anyone working for the state was a potential target, but the non-Muslim Thai minority, comprising 20 percent of the southern population, was at particular risk.
“The Thai people, you ask them if they want to stay, they say `No! We want to leave,'” he said.
“The government employees have all been given guns for their own protection,” he said.
With a wry smile, he lifts his orange shirt to reveal a revolver tucked into his waistband.
Manun Jasmani, Su-Ngai Padi’s head man, said the government had increased economic aid, including free medical care and more money for Islamic teaching in schools, and claimed security was improving.
But last week Buddhist teachers at a school in another part of Narathiwat demanded new jobs in the north of the country after being taken hostage by pupils and parents protesting at the police’s detention of two villagers.
“The militants want independence,” Abdul Rahman said. “But some people do not see the need. So there are divisions and this helps the Thais keep control.”
But the blacklisting and arbitrary arrest of suspects under emergency laws and disappearances blamed on “bad elements” in the security forces had inflamed opinion and made matters worse.
An autonomy deal for the south, similar to last year’s agreement in Aceh, Indonesia, has been mooted, Abdul Rahman said.
“But the government has never mentioned this. Many people in the north would object,” he said.
Pressure on Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s government to soften its approach has been slowly building since the notorious Takbai and Krue Se mosque incidents in 2004, in which more than 200 alleged militants died. Last November the ICG urged Bangkok to place more emphasis on peace-building, end immunity from prosecution for security force members, fully investigate disappearances, and ensure detainees get access to a lawyer.
Malaysia, concerned that unrest could spill over the border, is privately pushing a conciliatory line.
“The Thais will have to talk sooner or later. They must agree to a high degree of autonomy,” a senior Malaysian defense official said.
A report by Thailand’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee has also recommended enhanced economic and educational development programs in the south.
Saifuddin Ismail, who helped compile the report, said 90 percent of children attended a non-state religious school or pondok, the equivalent of Arab madrass.
“The report said the government should persuade the kids to go to government schools. But they won’t because they are forced to learn in the Thai language. The government has to change the syllabus,” he said.
But there is little sign that Thaksin is ready to give ground. When a Pulo spokesman exiled in Sweden offered talks last week in return for an army withdrawal and an end to the killing, Thaksin, said to be eyeing a third term, rejected the proposal.
This is how I ended my trip to Thialand. 4 months were cut down to one after a night I literally cannot remember. Who knows how many stitches, 1 broken tooth, three chipped teeth and I was spitting out blood for three weeks afterwards.
In the words of my old drill sergeant, “Stay alert! Stay alive!”
Cheers,
Eli
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