NewThai police search for ‘prime suspect’ in murder of British tourists

Thai police on Wednesday identified a man caught on security camera as the “prime suspect” in the murder of two British tourists on a resort island, as detectives raised hopes that a post-mortem examination would yield valuable clues.

The man was seen on CCTV near a bar on Koh Tao where David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, were partying shortly before they were beaten to death early on Monday.

Local media reports said the man – believed to be of Asian appearance – was twice seen on camera, the first time passing the bar and later hurriedly returning from the direction where the bodies of the British pair were found behind some rocks.

“He is the prime suspect but we don’t know his whereabouts yet,” Kiattipong Khawsamang, Surat Thani provincial police commander, said, confirming the man in the CCTV footage was Asian.

Several Myanmese nationals working on the resort have already been quizzed over the killings, which have shocked the small community of travellers and residents on the normally tranquil resort island, a diving hot-spot near Koh Phangan in the Gulf of Thailand.

“We have questioned four to five Myanmar migrant workers and allowed them to go back to their rooms – but under their employers’ watch,” he said.

Myanmese migrants are frequently accused of committing crimes in the kingdom, where they make up a vast, poorly-paid and low-status workforce.