Two Burmese men have confessed to murdering Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, the British backpackers who were bludgeoned to death last month on the holiday island of Koh Tao, Thai police claimed today.

The men, who have not been named by police, were reported to have admitted attacking the pair in order to rape Ms Witheridge, 23.

Thai detectives — who have repeatedly named suspects during the investigation, only to clear them soon after — said that they were awaiting the results of DNA tests to establish whether there was a match with traces of sexual activity found on Ms Witheridge’s body.

Post mortem examinations of the murdered tourists suggested that Ms Witheridge was raped by two men before being bludgeoned with a metal garden