A murder hunt is on in Udon Thani after a British businessman’s Thai wife was found strangled in the couple’s home on Wednesday.

Police say the murderer is the Thai woman’s lover who would visit her when the British man was away.

Sunee Downer, 37, was found face down in the bathroom with a red cord around her neck. She had been strangled in the manner of a garotte.

She had been dead just one hour when police arrived.

She was the owner of the fancy two story house in the Ban Lao Sung area of Phen district. The bedroom had been ransacked. Missing was 20 baht weight of gold, a computer notebook, mobile phone, cash and the deceased’s white Mazda license plate กบ 1800 (Udon Thani).

A man known to be her lover was seen driving her car away just thirty minutes before the body was discovered.

Police learnt that Sunee has a British husband who is a businessman who looks after business affairs in many European countries. The couple had been married for ten years and have two children. They did not live together all the time – the husband was often abroad.

They further learnt that Sunee had got mixed up with a Thai man who was into drugs. They had argued recently when the Thai man thought she might be having an affair with someone else. The father of the victim told police that the man had threatened to kill his daughter when they had argued.

Chawit Srichan of the Udon police named the wanted man as Thongsai Phurachato, 36. He said that Thongsai is a known ya ba addict. “He had threatened the deceased before that if she left him he would strangle her, “he said. “She did not believe that would happen”.

Police stated that they expect a quick arrest of the suspect.

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