Andrew Drummond

‘His adopted son was by his side’

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok - January 26 2010
A flamboyant Scots businessman Martin Frutin, who left Scotland after being convicted of possessing child pornography in his Edinburgh mansion died in the Thai resort of Pattaya early today.

Martin Frutin with Scots musician Frankie Miller - May 2005

Martin Frutin, one time dancer, rock group manager, and travel agent, who was convicted of possessing indecent images of young boys, was reported to have died  with his Thai ‘adopted son’ by his side.
He had been in the Bangkok Pattaya hospital for the last three months, with complications from pancreatitis.
Frutin, 69, formerly of Ravelston Dykes, Edinburgh, left  Scotland permanently for Thailand more than fifteen years ago,  eventually selling Frutin Travel, one of Scotland’s largest independent travel agencies.
Originally born in Giffnock,   the son of Glasgow cinema manager,  in 1962 Frutin won the ‘European Cha-cha, Jive and Twist Championships’ with his dance partner June Miller,  from Pollock.
Dancing with the June Miller again in front of the Queen Mother at Glasgow’s, Alhambra Theatre, with a high kick he accidentally hit his partner on the head and himself ended up in the orchestra pit.
Thus he went into the music business and managed Scottish groups including the ‘Hitchhikers’, and Frankie Miller and the Delljacks.  His assistant at the time was, the now better known, John Reid,  from  Govan, who went on to become the manager of Elton John before a serious financial bust-up with the superstar.
Frutin’s  move to Thailand, which he had been visiting since the Sixties,  and where he had already bought property, may have been hastened by the raid on his house in Ravelston Dykes. He was later convicted and fined 500 pounds at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in June 1996 after admitting the offence.
However Frutin remained on a British police paedophile watch list (before the days of the Paedophile Register) and shortly after he relocated, the National Criminal Intelligence Service – NCIS - were notified by Interpol in Bangkok that Frutin’s address , The  Penthouse,  Jomtien Hills Resort, in Pattaya had been searched  in May 1996, a month before his Edinburgh conviction, and that again a number of indecent images of young children had been found.

Frutin was suspected of having contributed to local police funds.  From that moment on he began a new life and rose to become a prominent member of Pattaya society, hobnobbing with the owners of the local English language newspapers, also assisting as a police interpreter, during the arrest of other foreigners.
He became known as Somsak-Martin, and found that his background was also of little hindrance to him becoming a television host, performing with comedy teeth and wigs, and, despite objections from people who knew his background,  also a prominent member of the local Masonic Lodge, Pattaya West Winds and the Pattaya-Jomtien Rotary Club.
For the last year, before he took ill, he had teamed up with a Danish businessmen called Neils ‘Istegade’ Colov,  also a police volunteer.  He joined  Colov’s local television channel ‘Pattaya People TV’ where he presented his own show giving ‘tourists tips’.
He drove a red Rolls Royce and went on to build himself a gated mansion called ‘Marfru Palace’ which had four home cinemas and a swimming pool into which he could slide from his second floor bedroom.
A  close friend in Pattaya said today: “Martin died close to midnight last night after a long illness. His Scottish nephew and adopted Thai family were at his side.  No arrangements have been made yet but it is understood that he will be cremated at the Jewish cemetery in Bangkok.”
By ‘adopted family’, said the spokesman for Martin Frutin, ‘I mean his adopted Thai son and staff.”
Mr. Colov’s ‘Pattaya People’ newspaper reported today: “ Always larger than life, Somsak Martin could put a smile on everyone’s face with his unique style of wit that genuinely touched the hearts of many.  A piece of Pattaya history has left us and all who knew Somsak Martin will greatly miss him.”- And history he now becomes to CEOP, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Unit  of the Serious Organised Crime Squad, who have taken over the Thailand watch.

First two strikingly opposing views on the same man. The monster story in the SUN and the eulogy of an obituary in the Scotsman by the legendary Beryl Beattie.

The Scotsman (Obit- The Saint)  The SUN (The perv)

Other links: Scotsman News   Evening Times Daily Record The Herald, Glasgow

How the Sun said it

Here also are links explaining the ‘Magic Circle’  Royal Commission in Scotland which the SUN mentions and which featured two Scottish Pattaya names Gordon May and Martin Frutin. It’s a bit of a red herring to this story however.

The Commission   A good summary of the affair