A court in Thailand has convicted a pair of Burmese men of the murder of two young British tourists on the holiday island of Koh Tao, a verdict described as just by one victim’s family but condemned as deeply flawed by human rights groups.

Bar workers Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, from Norfolk, and the murder of 24-year-old David Miller, from Jersey, in September last year.

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The Britons had met days before on Koh Tao, an island popular with young backpackers and scuba divers, and were attacked on a beach late at night. Witheridge was raped and beaten to death, while Miller was struck on the head and left to drown in the surf.

The long and convoluted trial on the larger island of Koh Samui saw prosecutors build much of their case around initial confessions by the two suspects, both 22, and DNA evidence that police said tied them to the crime.

However, the men’s defence team argued that the confessions, which were soon rescinded, had been gained under torture, prompting alarm from human rights groups. Thailand’s best-known forensic scientist testified that police had badly mishandled DNA evidence, including that which connected the Burmese men to the suspected murder weapon, a hoe, making it worthless.



In an hour-long ruling, the panel of three judges said the DNA evidence that connected the men to the killings and rape conformed to international standards.

Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were both sentenced to death. Even if they lose a planned appeal this could be commuted to life in jail: Thailand has more than 450 prisoners on death row, but it has not executed anyone since 2009.

Amnesty International called for an independent investigation into the torture allegations, followed by a re-trial according to international standards. Human Rights Watch described the verdicts and sentences as “profoundly disturbing”, while another rights group, Reprieve, said the trial process had been “flawed and unfair”.

But in a statement outside court, Miller’s family said they believed the police investigation and forensic work “was not the so-called shambles it was made out to be”.

“David was hacked from behind, dragged into the sea and left to die,” said Miller’s brother, Michael, standing by his parents, Ian and Sue. “That will live with us forever. What happened to Hannah Witheridge is unspeakable. David always stood up for justice and justice is what has been delivered today. We came to realise that the police investigation and the forensic work performed was not the so-called shambles it was made out to be.”

He added: “Having listened carefully to all the evidence and despite what their lawyers say, it is our opinion that the evidence against Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin is absolutely overwhelming.”

The Witheridge family had been in Koh Samui to observe some of the trial, but did not attend the verdict. They gave a more equivocal response to the court decision.

In a statement released via Norfolk police, they said the past year had been “an unimaginably impossible time for our family. We have found the trial process extremely difficult and our trips out to Thailand, to attend court, made for particularly distressing experiences.”



The statement continued: “We found listening to proceedings very challenging and we have had to endure a lot of painful and confusing information. We now need time, as a family, to digest the outcome of the trial and figure out the most appropriate way to tell our story.”

Andy Hall, a migrants’ rights activist from Britain who worked for the defence, told the Guardian that the men would apply to the appeals court and, if that failed, to the supreme court. “I was shocked by the strength of the verdict,” Hall said.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Hall said the defence team strongly disagreed with the Miller family’s assessment. “This investigation was a shambles from the beginning,” he said. “The defence team have had access to all the information in this case in order to defend the accused, and the information that we saw was not information that complied with international standards. It was information that was full of holes, full of errors. On that basis we believe that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin were guilty of these horrific crimes.”

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Human rights groups have noted that migrant workers from Myanmar, of whom there are about 2.5 million in Thailand, with several thousand on Koh Tao, mainly working in the tourism industry, have previously been wrongly accused of crimes.

The Foreign Office had previously expressed grave worry about the torture allegations, calling in a senior Thai diplomat in London. Following the verdict a spokesman said: “Our thoughts are with David and Hannah’s families during what is an extremely difficult time for them. Embassy staff attended the court today, and our focus is on continuing to support both families in any way we can.

“The UK government opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and we have made this position clear to the Thai government.”

Champa Patel, Amnesty International’s director for south-east Asia and the Pacific, said the torture allegations needed an independent investigation, “which the police should certainly not be in charge of”.

She said: “The Thai police force has a long and disturbing track record of using torture and other forms of ill-treatment to extract ‘confessions’. This is far from an isolated case – the Thai authorities must start taking concrete steps to stamp out torture, not just paying lip service to doing so.

“We hope that the Thai authorities will ensure the truth in a retrial that respects international human rights law and standards, so that the families of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller get the justice and peace of mind they deserve.”

Human Rights Watch called for the verdict to be reviewed in a “transparent and fair appeal process”. Phil Robertson, the deputy director of the group’s Asia division, said: “In a trial where torture allegations by the two accused were left uninvestigated and DNA evidence was called into question by Thailand’s most prominent forensic pathologist, both the verdict and these death sentences are profoundly disturbing.”

Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said: “There are credible allegations that these two young men were tortured into confessing, and we know that they have been subjected to numerous unfair trial practices. It is therefore deeply alarming that they have been sentenced to death, as without a fair trial serious doubts over their guilt will remain. No one would disagree that those responsible for this crime need to be held to account. But it is hard to see how a trial as flawed and unfair as this one can provide any confidence that justice has been served.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Burmese migrant workers Wai Phyo (left) and Zaw Lin attend a press conference with police on the beach of Koh Tao Island in 2014. Photograph: STR/EPA

During the trial, police said Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were motivated by sexual jealousy after seeing the Britons together on the beach. The case against the suspects rested heavily on sperm samples collected from the crime scene. But when the defence asked for an independent re-test, officers failed to retrieve the samples and one officer suggested they had been destroyed.

Wai Phyo told the court during the last two days of witness testimony in October that a police officer took photos of him naked. “They also kicked me in the back, punched me and slapped me; threatened to chop off my arms and legs, and throw my body into the sea to feed the fish. They also said they would take me into another room and electrocute me.”

The authorities had been under pressure to solve the case quickly as it threatened the country’s vital tourism industry. In the defence’s closing statement, it said the “challenges faced to Thailand’s law enforcement and justice systems in this case also cast a serious shadow over the safety of tourism in Thailand”.