GUILTY Thailand - David Miller, 24, & Hannah Witheridge, 23, Koh Tao, 15 Sep 2014

[dotr]

"A pair of British women were reportedly mugged by a Thai motorbike gang on the same beach where two backpackers were brutally murdered.

The incident happened just one night before the killings took place, on Sunday (Sept 14), The Telegraph newspaper reported.

The women were robbed of their bags, cameras and iPhones by the group of four Thai men, according to James Isaacs, a British tourist and the victims' friend.

The robbery took place on Koh Tao island's Sairee beach - where islanders found the disfigured bodies of David Miller, a 24-year-old from Jersey, and Hannah Witheridge, a 23-year-old from Great Yarmouth, at around 6am last Monday."
- See more at: http://www.tnp.sg/news/gang-mugs-two-british-women-thai-beach-murder-scene#sthash.JnEICr7I.dpuf

 

[sar2them1984]

Wow well this certainly makes things interesting. It will be interesting to see whether the press repirt on this

 

[ChuckieD]

Wow well this certainly makes things interesting. It will be interesting to see whether the press repirt on this

Sean McAnna's FB is open, have a gander.

I hope my last words aren't 'call Sky news' - longest mafia kill ever. What ********

Actually, it was tell Sky news to call him, how will answer the phone mid-Mafioso murder? :gaah:

 

[jellybeanz]

May well be immaturity and trying to attach himself too close to the drama. I only saw his sister say it was in the hands of the embassy and not to go on FB/social media.

Yes, I deleted my initial post I made on here after I knew that was hers and the Embassy's wishes.

I think he was and is already attached to the case due to his friendship with David. I can only assume he got in a confrontation with those two guys and then ran for his life.
I really do not know how you are supposed to react in a situation like that. I'm just glad he is safe and hope he remains so.

Those police will now have to find those guys and get them in for a DNA sample as soon as possible. SMcA will now no doubt be a prosecution witness with whatever information he has and if it is correct.

 

[gia2]

Earlier on today, the same guy wrote a message on David's facebook page telling people to basically to do something nice for a stranger in memory of David or something to that effect. Shortly after writing that message he replies in the comments stating he went back to his hotel room and found £300 had been stolen from his room. Now this?! It sounds like this has been a very eventful week for this guy.

I hope we get news of the situation soon!

 

[dotr]

"It is claimed she may have spoken with her attackers before being dragged to her death, with Mr Miller killed after coming to her aid.

Officers said it appeared one killer had left his blue shorts at the scene, putting on Mr Miller’s ‘better quality’ beige pair. Last night James Isaacs, a tourist, claimed two British women were recently mugged by a Thai motorbike gang at the spot where the bodies were found."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...vealed-raped-two-local-men.html#ixzz3E0Edi9qn
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

bbm

 

[gia2]

Just out of interest, this is the FB page for AC bar. https://www.facebook.com/kohtao.t

Edit: I just realised that is an old page for the bar. It looks like they've had a few pages over the years. This is the most recent https://www.facebook.com/acbar.kotao
There were photos uploaded of the club last Tuesday. I wonder when they were taken.

 

[jellybeanz]

"It is claimed she may have spoken with her attackers before being dragged to her death, with Mr Miller killed after coming to her aid.

Officers said it appeared one killer had left his blue shorts at the scene, putting on Mr Miller’s ‘better quality’ beige pair. Last night James Isaacs, a tourist, claimed two British women were recently mugged by a Thai motorbike gang at the spot where the bodies were found."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...vealed-raped-two-local-men.html#ixzz3E0Edi9qn
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

bbm

If you look at the video at the bottom of that article and pause it at 38 seconds, the guy standing there in a black t-shirt and dark blue jeans has the same hairstyle as the guy on the left in the pic that SMcA posted on his FB.

 

[gia2]

http://www.phuketgazette.net/thailand-news/DNA-samples-be-sought-all-Koh-Tao/35965
Police are collecting DNA samples of all people on Koh Tao however officials declined to give any specific timeframe for the arrest of the culprits. They will submit one set of DNA samples at a time (do they mean one person's sample at a time?!) and are going to trace the workers from the fishing trawlers which had stopped on Koh Tao at the time of the muders.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

'My David died a hero': Father of backpacker murdered in Thailand says his son tried to save female victim as it's revealed she may have been raped by two local men

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...le-victim-s-revealed-raped-two-local-men.html

 

[zwiebel]

Sean McAnna has fled the island now. The Telegraph has an article but I've used up my free views for the month, so can't see it.

Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) tweeted at 1:10pm - 22 Sep 14:

In a decade as a foreign correspondent I'm not sure I've ever had so surreal a reporting experience as today on Koh Tao. Truly unbelievable. (https://twitter.com/tomphillipsin/status/514008895904157697)

Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) tweeted at 1:43pm - 22 Sep 14:

Terrified Brit flees Thai island after 'mafia' death threat. Our full interview w/ Sean McAnna who fled Koh Tao today telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews… (https://twitter.com/tomphillipsin/status/514017199711739904)

https://mobile.twitter.com/tomphillipsin/tweets

Telegraph new article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ees-Thai-island-after-mafia-death-threat.html

 

[dotr]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-...ailand-will-make-tourists-think-twice/5761754

"Thai authorities have made no arrests and reported little progress in solving the crime.

DNA samples related to the case had been sent to Singapore, where testing is quicker, Mr Kissana said. Interpol Thailand had joined the investigation, he added.

"We're reconstructing the steps of both victims, their activities on the island, who they met, who they flirted with, who they learned to dive with," said Mr Kissana.

The number of tourists arriving in Thailand in August fell 11.9 per cent from a year earlier after a 10.9 per cent drop in July, according to the Department of Tourism."

 

[dotr]

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/scot-goes-hiding-thai-island-4302708


"Scottish man goes into hiding on Thai island after claiming he knows who killed backpackers David Miller and Hannah Witheridge "

"Ex-pat Sean McAnna, 25, who lives in Koh Tao, posted messages on his Facebook page last night claiming his life was in danger because he knew the killers.

The backpackers were bludgeoned to death on Monday. It’s understood they just met hours before they were killed.

Sean, who is from Glasgow, works in the AC nightclub, where Hannah, 23, from Hemsby, Norfolk, and David, 24, from Jersey, are believed to have spent their last hours.

He posted: “Thai mafia are trying to kill me. Please help me.” A few minutes later he accused a local bar owner of being responsible.

Worried friends and relatives immediately launched a campaign to get him to safety.

It is understood Sean has been taken to a safe place and is waiting to get off the island.

Today a friend of his, who asked not to be named, said: “Sean said he knew David Miller as the island is very small.

“He said the island is run by the Thai mafia and he knew the identities of the killer"

 

[jellybeanz]

Tweets from Daily Mirror reporter on the island ...

Andy Lines @andylines · 33m
Being on Koh Tao today was surreal experience - started with desperate 4.15am phone call from a 24/7 convenience store and hasn't ended yet.

Andy Lines @andylines · 20m
I suspect this story will get even more surreal in the next 24 hours.

 

[Yoda]

JMO My hinky meter is going off with SM. In the telegraph, article his story changed.

At around 2.30am he was accosted by two Thai men at Koh Tao's AC Bar...
"They just said to me: 'It was you who killed them. You've got two people's deaths on your hands. We know it was you. You're going to hang yourself tonight and we are going to watch you hang. You will die tonight.'"

"They wouldn't have shot me. They would have taken me up into the hills and hung me to make it look like I'd hung myself," he said.

Mr McAnna said he did not know if the men who threatened him were directly involved in his friend's murder . However, he did believe they had key information about the murders and were attempting to make him a "scapegoat" for the killings.

"I think they needed a scapegoat. I think they might know who it was. They need a scapegoat and they don't want it to be locals. They want it to be a westerner. So if I kill myself here, if I hang myself here, then it is easy to say: 'See, it was him.'"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ees-Thai-island-after-mafia-death-threat.html

 

[hunch77]

this all adds up to me and seems extremely likely re the mafia and gangsters in cahoots with local police. As i wrote a few days ago-finding a scapegoat is customary.very interesting forum discussion here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic...-may-have-argued-in-bar-with-gangster/page-15 let's hope this all blows up and reveals the sordid truth and there is real justice.

 

[hunch77]

plus, in the thai visa forum "gangster" above there is a link to a photo that i think appeared in daily mail right at beginning of investigation with someone pictured with police on sairee beach who several are confirming(including some posters who are either on the island or resident locally) is the same guy who was in the photos posted to s.m's facebook...

to all the doubters of SM:- from my personal experience when i was told my sister was at risk of attack whilst staying on koh phangan-the same guy who warned me then had his dog sleep outside our door every night to protect us.it doesn't sound to me like sm is exaggerating at all in terms of the the very real and justifiable fear he experienced.

 

[Yoda]

this all adds up to me and seems extremely likely re the mafia and gangsters in cahoots with local police. As i wrote a few days ago-finding a scapegoat is customary.very interesting forum discussion here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic...-may-have-argued-in-bar-with-gangster/page-15 let's hope this all blows up and reveals the sordid truth and there is real justice.

thanks hunch77 and :welcome:

I understand, from reading media and forum posts, that corruption is the norm. That is terrifying for anyone living or traveling to their country. JMO

My hinky feeling comes from SM's reaction, starting with his initial post on DM's fb wall. He may just have a grandiose manner. IDK Does anyone know if his DNA has been asked for?

 

[hunch77]

Yes yoda, he posted a few days ago that he wanted to leave the island but couldn't until his already submitted dna results had come back.i'm assuming they have and theya re clear hence him being able to leave koh tao.
i'm also wondering if he has known right from the beginning what happened and was an innocent party but found himself in a nightmare situation in that, working for the bar, he was in the belly of the beast, right inside the lions den.
maybe he was asleep and it was a coincidence his friend was killed and when he realised he then knew how much danger he was in?
or maybe he was not asleep and knew what happened but put that in a public post to temporarily convince the suspects that he was not going to go public with nay info?

 

[hunch77]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/terrified-pal-murdered-brit-pair-4303495

brand new video of SM from the telegraph newspaper:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-crgOK3QOw