Of an Embassy and Brits in the sh*t (Part 11) This is a blog only
Link to ‘Of an Embassy and Brits in the sh*t’ Part 1
“The British Embassy staff were bloody brilliant’
Not my words but those of my colleague Andrew Chant. For the last week we have been working on the story of Malcolm Robertson, who was murdered on his yacht ‘Mr.Bean’ off southern Thailand.
Having done myself the initial interview with his wife Linda, who thankfully survived, Andy was left heavily involved, hands on, with Embassy officials, and Linda Robertson and the family members who flew out to be with her.
Andy reports:“The assistance given by the British Embassy to the family of Malcolm Robertson was bloody brilliant. In fact it’s fair to say they could not have done more.
“A three person team buzzed around the family, at pains not to be intrusive, but at other times giving support when needed. Deputy Head of Mission Daniel Pruce liaised with the Thai authorities, the Thai media and the FCO, organizing a quite extraordinary search. 3 helicopters, 2 spotter planes, three marine police / naval vessels, a number of small naval vessels and over a hundred fishing boats were and are still looking for Malcolm’s body.
“Vice Consul Caroline Vaudrey assisted Daniel and spent time giving support to Malcolm’s wife Lindie and their children. The Thai member of staff did a superb job as translator during the day long testimony given by Lindie to Satun Court. He had to take the place of the court appointed translator because he was far, far better.
“I felt proud to be British.”
Well you cannot get a better testimonial than that from a hard-bitten newsman like Andy Chant, but he did panic and say ’Don’t make me look sychophantic!’, when I told him we had better give the Embassy due credit.
I hope this provides some balance to the reports we do, which do not always show the British Embassy in a good light. So I really have to say ‘Thank you chaps’.
But, before I get too sychophantic, this today from Judith Sinnott who is sure her brother was murdered in Pattaya in 2002. Judith had been reading our reports on the Malcolm Robertson murder. *
“Dear Andrew
“It is good to see that you are still fighting the cause of a number of British Tourists murdered in Thailand of which the UK Government continues to whitewash, my brother being one of the many statistics ! The British Embassy BKK are hopeless and if anything the FCO are very obstructive during and investigation. I am so glad that there are journalists out there not afraid to cover these horrendous stories
“My brother was murdered in Pattaya in 2002 and to cut along story short, justice has never been done due to Thai police incompetence and meddling by the FCO.
“Having been “missing” for 4 months, I personally found him in the Forensics Institute as an unidentified Farang, despite the Embassy having checked !!…. and despite numerous inconsistencies in statements from the people he was with, this was never properly investigated in Thailand and the death was put down as drowning despite all this !
“ I still continue to investigate in the UK though. However for the families involved, it never really goes away. There are a lot of us out there who never get any form of justice in Thailand and I fear that this will happen again to the latest family. Maybe there needs to be some form of collective article in relation to this ?
“I have indeed read your website and it is very good, in fact some of it really tickled me.
“I do seem to remember that the Embassy were less than impressed with some of what had been written about them, hence they were desperate to keep you away from us, but, hey ho , the truth hurts sometimes !! They really leave themselves wide open to criticism in my opinion”.
Best wishes
Judith
*edited from two emails and a reply to my blog
Picture: British Embassy Tsunami desk, Phuket Provincial Hall, December 28 2004
Bit of a no brainer for the FCO since resources could be easily focused and they were in a situation demanding little more than the expertise they are paid to provide.
Unlike many it seems in Britain, I see no reason to lavish praise upon an organisation simply because it exercised a competence one always assumed was a given. Perhaps Mr.Burrows can now look forward to rather more support than received hitherto in dealing with the consequences of their inaction on that Friday afternoon?
Well, I do not lavish praise lightly. And I do not think the Embassy are hanging on to my every word. But in this case the Embassy staff were (1) fast (2) efficient, and (3) showed genuine concern. Their new Deputy Head of Mission was on site.
As we record complaints so often, because we deal with Britons who often have a complaint, it would be churlish not to recognise when the Embassy officials have been first class.
We are monitoring the Burrows case. They say they are monitoring the Burrows case. What happens there may be another barometer, I suppose.
Truly sad case. But listen! If it had been an English teacher of no particular status, the Embassy would have done almost zero. A yacht is status. A journalist also has some. Sorry, Andrew, but you live in a different world from many expats here.
I always thought we were a bit below swamp rats. How about journalists with a yacht (ok beach cat)
Actually the Embassy take murder quite seriously I’m glad to say.