Andrew Drummond is currently fighting through the Thai courts cases of libel brought by James Lumsden, (in blue ballgown below) the co-founder of a club called Boyz Boyz Boyz in Pattaya. Court battles have been going on for nearly 7 years due to the Thai legal system.
Andrew Drummond took up this case after being alerted by a British Embassy official that a Briton, Kevin Quill, who had just invested over £300,000 in a business with two Scotsmen in Pattaya, Eastern Thailand, looked like he was the victim of a ‘frame-up’ on a drugs charge.
Kevin Quill had invested in a bar and hotel business in Pattaya with two Scotsmen, Jim Lumsden from Falkirk and Gordon May from Edinburgh. On a trip back to the UK in which he was carrying 170 cartons of contraband cigarettes he was stopped by police in the hotel limousine at a pre-arranged point in Pattaya and asked to go to the local police station.
Once there, and in front of journalists, one carton of cigarettes was opened and in one packet police demonstrated how they found nearly 100 metamphetamine pills.
After more than four years Kevin Quill was first convicted then acquitted on appeal on a drugs charge. In the appeal ruling the judges pointed to strange conduct both by police and Mr. Quill’s business partners.
Ten years earlier misfortune befell another young man who invested in the business owned by the two Scotsman. The first victim however died, aged just 28, in a fire in a room on their premises. He was the son of a former Provost of Inverness, Scotland, who had invested £250,000, but died after allegedly leaving all his possessions in Thailand to Gordon May’s Thai boyfriend.
A key to the investigation was what happened to the monies both men invested in companies affectively controlled by James Lumsden and Gordon May, before suffering terrible misfortunes. Mr. Quill testified to his own losses. He said his company was taken from him along with his car and apartment, shortly after his arrest. The day after his arrest his computer was wiped of all financial records in Thailand.
Lumsden actually took out a charge against Kevin Quill that he made false accusations. That was dimissed by the Pattaya court.
When Kevin Quill took out a case against his business partners for fraud he was told he would not get his company back unless he withdrew the charges. Losing money on a daily basis he duly withdrew the charges.
The mother of Iain MacDonald said that his investment was never returned after the Scotsmen produced an invalid will, which appeared to leave everything to Gordon May’s Thai boyfriend. Mr. May’s Thai boyfriend, Supan Kampanya, of course did not receive any of this cash. Mrs. Eileen Macdonald made a statement to say that her son’s estate had also been defrauded.
But on April 8th 2008 after several years at liberty and while under treatment for cancer of the throat Kevin Quill went back to the court in Pattaya expecting the Thai Supreme Court to confirm the finding of the Appeal Court. It did not.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Pattaya police ‘had no reason to lie’. Kevin Quill was duly transferred to Nongplalai prison in Pattaya to serve out the remaining 5 1/2 years, and where he could well die unless he receives proper medical treatment.
Below are a number of stories written about this case and also links to some of the evidence. Documents are also available showing how his company was taken from him and how his computer was wiped at around 4 p.m. (of all his financial records) the day after his arrest.
The first link is a story written by the Chief Investigative Reporter of the Sunday Herald in Scotland and gives an overview of this case. Added are links to other publications or documents presented in court. All the original allegations and more serious ones were printed in the U.K. 
James Lumsden elected not to sue in the U.K. but in the local courts where ‘Boyz Boyz Boyz’ - promoted as the largest gay-a-go-go complex in Asia - has its base.
I have not provided links to some articles ‘out of respect’ for the Thai justice system.
An interesting point in this case is that in all actions both criminal and civil there was an overall assumption that there was no commercial sex trade at ‘Boyz Boyz Boyz’. This view was supported from the Provincial Governor, to the courts and local police (who actually said they investigated and found none).
In fact ‘Boyz Boyz Boyz’ was and continues to be among the largest commercial sex venues for gays in Thailand’s vaste sex industry boasting hundreds of young men at the club, who could be taken next door to the owners’ Ambiance Hotel for what are known as ‘off ‘ fees , which go to the management.
These claims alone indicate that local police were able to swear black was white in this case. In fact gay sex tourists to Thailand would be deeply disappointed if ‘BBB’ and other such venues did not provide such a service.
James Lumsden claimed in court that he was a deeply maligned pillar of the local society and personally provided 4 million Thai baht for aids sufferers (actually this was provided by the Pattaya Gay Festival of which he was a leading member). Of course how much such clubs provide to increasing AIDS was never mentioned.
He claimed the Kevin Quill voluntarily gave up his directorship and possessions.
Police also ruled that James Lumsden was tricked into presenting a pornographic film made at the Ambiance Hotel in Pattaya with his employees and which promoted his businesses. This was significant in a libel case as a court would have to rule that the plaintiff does indeed have a good reputation that has been damaged.
Actually ‘Boyz Boyz Boyz’ and all similar clubs offering men or women for sex are illegal in Pattaya. Owners merely pay the police each month a stipend which goes to declaring them legal.
In one of the court hearings it was actually stated: “If there is anything wrong with the business (Boyz Boyz Boyz) Mr. Thaksin* will do something about it”.
(*Thaksin Shinawatra, owner of Manchester City Football Club and the then Thai Prime Minister.)
I would like to thank, the British Association of Journalists (London) and in particular General Secretary Steve Jones whose support was absolutely fabulous and consistent from day one, the Committee to Protect Journalists (New York), The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, in particular Dominic Faulder, and Journalists without Borders (Paris) for their support and, of course, not least fellow journalists and editors from the full spectrum of newspapers in London, some from papers for whom I do not write, who generously dug into their pockets.
Thanks must also go to Mrs. Eileen MacDonald, who lost the son who had invested in ‘Boyz Boyz Boyz’, her partner Graeme McBean; and Barry Kenyon, Britain’s man in Pattaya.
I would also especially like to thank Lt-General Noppadol Somboonsap, who, while Assistant Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, decided the issue was important enough to give evidence in my support at my libel trial.
Lt-General Somboonsap, a Thai policeman trusted by foreign police working out of Thailand, was the general who called in the officers involved in the Kevin Quill investigation, and then apologised to the British Embassy for the ‘frame up’. (see below)
There is a saying in Thailand ‘Truth will never die but if you tell it you may well do.” The truth will not die, but sadly Kevin Quill might.
I am sure however that Mr. Quill’s two sons Aaron and Sean will not forget what happened to their father.
Pictures: Left, Gordon May: Below right; Kevin Quill and Iain Macdonald, in blue, a week before his death.
‘Gay MacMafia accused of swindling Thai resorts visitors’
Former Bradford Man Was Framed
Thai court victory for Drummond - UK Press Gazette
Thai libel trial ends with conviction for freelance
Journalists conviction sparks Thai protests
Boyz Town buzzes over Pink Baht
*Police admitted Quill was framed on drug charge -says British Consul
*Iain Macdonald - His mother’s statement
*Iain Macdonald - The phoney will
*Committee to Protect Journalists New York to Thai Prime Minister
*BBC NEWS UK:British challenge to Thai drugs charges
*Freed from drug nightmare - Telegraph &Argus
*Briton in drug case freed after long legal fight - Yorkshire Post
*Briton freed in case taken up by British journalist - The Nation
*British Association of Journalists Claim victory
*British businessman sent back to jail
*A link to an article in the UK Press Gazette headed ‘The Times supports Andrew Drummond in his appeal’ has been removed as it contains material which could be seen as disrespectful to the Thai justice system.