Enough evidence collected in murder case of two Britons

SURAT THANI, THAILAND, September 23 (TNA) - Thai police say they have had enough evidence and witnesses of a recent murder of two Britons on Koh Tao, a small island in the Gulf of Thailand off Surat Thani Province in the Thai South, and the case should, thus, be closed within a few days. Police Lieutenant General Panya Mamen, Commissioner of the Provincial Police Region 8, told journalists of the update on Tuesday, insisting that police investigators have made much progress. Police Lieutenant General Panya explained that the police investigators have used image overlaying technique to compare a picture of a man recorded by a surveillance camera with pictures of suspects in a bid to find a suspect in the murder of the two British tourists and expected to nail a wrongdoer within a few days. Police Lieutenant General Panya said that the picture overlay technique was applied to two of three suspects who allegedly molested Hannah Victoria Witheridge, one of the killed tourists, at the night of the murder on September 15, after they received a tip-off provided by a foreign tourist who had taken their photos before the murder. Police Lieutenant General Panya said that police have also sought search warrants with a hope to arrest more suspects and will also call others who have left Koh Tao for additional interrogation. Results from DNA tests on two speedboat attendants did not, however, match DNA samples found from the dead and other evidence. Meanwhile, people on Koh Tao gave alms to Buddhist monks and made other merits traditionally for their late ancestors, while also praying for the spirits of both slain British tourists. The bodies of the two slain British vicitms, 23-year-old Hannah Victoria Witheridge and 24-year-old David William Miller, were found on Koh Tao's Sairee Beach on September 15. (TNA)