Andrew Drummond

From Times Online September 9, 2004

British couple shot dead in Thai tourist spot

From Times Online and Andrew Drummond in Bangkok

A British couple have been shot in the back in an execution-style killing in Thailand by a gunman believed to be a police sergeant, Thai police said today.

Vanessa Arscott, 24, was hit by a car and dragged for 20 yards after trying to stop the gunman who shot dead her boyfriend, Adam Lloyd. She was then shot dead too.

Miss Arscott and Mr Lloyd, 25, were killed in the tourist town of Kanchanaburi, 70 miles from Bangkok and location of the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai.

The couple were said to have met their killer earlier in the riverside S&S restaurant when he intervened in a row, which allegedly started after Mr Lloyd got upset by the way other customers were looking at his girlfriend.

Inspector Milin Phienchand, of the Thai tourist police in Kanchanaburi, described the callous shooting as an “execution.” Inspector Phienchand said that the 40-year-old gunman had a violent argument with Mr Lloyd.

“They hit each other. We don’t know what the argument was about, but after Adam and Vanessa left this man followed them in his car on their way back to the guesthouse.

“He shot Mr Lloyd three times, once in the head, once in the arm and once in the body. Then he tracked Ms Arscott for 200 metres and hit her with his car. Then he shot her twice, once in the head and once in the chest. We have armed police searching for this hit man.”

An arrest warrant has been issued for Sergeant Somchai Visetsingha, whose private car was found with bloodstains, police Colonel Vej Somboon said.

Witnesses saw the victims arguing with Mr Somchai at the restaurant at around 2am local time (7pm BST). He has been missing since the shooting.

“We hope to get him soon. The witnesses and evidence show that he is the man who gunned down the British tourists,” said the colonel.

Mr Lloyd’s mother Linda, who described her son as “a lovely lad”, revealed that he had been due to fly home last week but was unable to get a flight.

Mrs Lloyd, who runs the Buckingham Lodge Hotel in Torquay, Devon, with her husband Brian, said: “He and Vanessa had been travelling together for two months. It was something he always wanted to do.”

A family friend said Ms Arscott’s family, from Ashburton in Devon, were “distraught”.

A neighbour, Elizabeth Tucker, said today that Ms Arscott’s death was “just shocking”. “I’m absolutely devastated, she was such a lovely girl. I have seen her grow up. It is just shattering to think she is not here any longer.”

Miss Arscott’s parents have lived in a detached house in the countryside outside Ashburton on the edge of Dartmoor for around 20 years.

Neighbours said that Mr Arscott worked for a pharmaceutical company and his wife Joyce worked as a hairdresser. A family friend said both were “distraught”.

Kanchanaburi is two miles from the Buddhist temple where Jo Masheder, 23, was killed and murdered by a novice monk called Yodsak Suaphoo for the equivalent of £10 in 1995.

Today all that remained of the murder scene were two large pools of dried blood on the road, two hundred yards past the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery, which holds many of those who died bulding the Burma-Siam railway for the Japanese in the Second World War.

Police were interviewing staff and customers at the restaurant, which is popular with locals.

Mr Lloyd and Ms Arscott were staying at the 550 Thai Bhat (£7.50) a night Sugar Cane Guest House close to the town centre. The guest house offers “floating rooms” with a view over the bridge built by British PoWs and Asian labourers during the Second World War, and made famous by the movie of the same name starring Alec Guinness.

Tourists travelling to Thailand are warned that although Thais are friendly and hospitable, to cause them to lose face can have serious consequences.