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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
00:01:49
time you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
00:01:56
please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website [Music]
00:02:07
as the sun slowly began to rise over qatar on monday september 15 2014 it promised to be yet another beautiful
00:02:16
day on the remote tropical island located on the western shore of the gulf of thailand ketau is the smallest of
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three islands making up the chimpan archipelago accessible only by boat and with only 2
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000 permanent residents the island spans 21 square kilometers of postcard worthy
00:02:38
landscapes coconut trees are bound with the mangrove jungle giving way to pristine
00:02:44
golden sand beaches imposing granite boulders jut out from the turquoise waters which are home to
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coral reefs and marine life once a sleepy island inhabited mostly by fishermen by 2014 katao had become the
00:03:02
mecca for scuba diving in southeast asia translated in english to turtle island half a million tourists flocked there
00:03:11
each year to enjoy its natural beauty affordable prices and laid-back lifestyle for a fraction of the cost of back home
00:03:20
westerners could spend their days diving exploring or sunbathing with a cocktail
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in hand before treating themselves to a thai massage and heading out to one of the many bars that dot the shorelines
00:03:34
as dawn approached that monday morning a beach cleaner was combing the sands of syree beach the main tourist hub that
00:03:42
houses a majority of the island's bars dive shops and accommodation as they neared the reef outside of the
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ocean view bungalows they noticed something among the rocky alcove on the shoreline
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the body of a white blonde female was lying on blood-soaked sand in the water approximately 12 meters
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away was the body of a white male floating in the shallow tide the surrounding water was red with blood
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[Music] [Music] when 23 year old hannah witheridge announced her plans to travel to
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thailand from her home in norfolk england her parents were apprehensive they perceived the foreign country to be
00:04:52
a dangerous place for a young woman sue witheridge tried to talk her daughter out of it urging hannah to
00:05:00
visit australia or europe instead but hannah's mind was made up her last few years had revolved around
00:05:09
study and she was eager for a break having completed a degree in education at the university of east anglia hannah
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had begun a postgraduate course in speech and language therapy she looked forward to a career centered
00:05:24
around helping others but she also craved some much needed down time and adventure
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so when the possibility of visiting thailand with a close group of her friends arose hannah jumped at the
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chance although she promised to contact her parents every day they remained anxious
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as she began her journey through the bustling foreign country when hannah reached qatar on september
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12 2014 her parents breathed a sigh of relief they could finally relax knowing that
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the island posed little threat as their daughter would be doing little besides sunbathing and
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swimming hannah and her friends checked into the ocean view bungalows on cyree beach a
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no-frills hotel offering basic facilities within walking distance to a selection of bars and restaurants
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the foursome hadn't been there long when they met a pair of fellow british backpackers david and chris who were
00:06:25
staying in an adjacent room like hannah 24 year old david miller was dedicated to his studies
00:06:34
having just completed a degree in civil and structural engineering at leeds university david left his hometown of
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jersey in britain's channel islands to spend six weeks undertaking a work placement at a mining company in
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australia deciding to spend some time travelling around southeast asia before returning
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home to complete his master's degree david ventured to thailand with his close friend chris ware to meet up with
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some other friends on ketau david and hannah and their friends quickly hit it off
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on the night of sunday september 14 the group headed out to choppers a busy sports bar just off syree beach
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as they chatted and laughed over drinks the bar's owner snapped a photo of the young travelers to promote his venue on
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social media it captured a smiling hannah wearing a pink top with her long blonde hair
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flowing down while her friends pulled faces behind her her mobile phone and small handbag
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rested on the table in front of her david sat between his friends on the other side of the table wearing a grey
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t-shirt with his brown hair combed to the side and a big smile on his face just after midnight hannah and her
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girlfriends made their way to the ac bar a lively beachfront venue popular with expats and backpackers
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david and chris joined them shortly after 2 am at some point in the early hours of the
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morning hannah and david are left to via the bar's back entrance and walk towards
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their hotel into the darkness the following morning police were summoned to the beach outside the ocean
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view bungalows thailand is a deeply religious country and the area where police were called
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was surrounded by temples when they saw what had taken place there the officers were shaken spiritually
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the first officer who arrived on the scene later remarked i hope god will punish the person who
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committed this crime hannah witheredge and david miller's bodies were sprawled on the beach both
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having been victims of a brutal attack hannah was laying in the sand by a looming rocky wall
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she had been bludgeoned numerous times with a blunt object causing her death deep jagged wounds were all over her
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face and head her upper and lower jaw forehead and both eye sockets were broken she was naked from the waist down her
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white skirt pushed up over her torso she had been raped and there were bite marks near her right nipple
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david miller was floating in the shallow water nearby naked except for a single black sock
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he had also sustained multiple head wounds his upper jaw was broken as were his eye
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sockets and cheekbones defense wounds on his hands showed that a struggle had taken place
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however water found in his lungs indicated he had been alive when he was thrown into the sea and that he had
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ultimately died from drowning hannah and david's clothing were strewn about on the blood streaked beach with
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footprints pressed into the sand around them underneath the fallen log nearby was a
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blood-stained garden hoe typically used for digging beachside fire pits the hoe belonged to a local man who had
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actually found it before the police and taken it back to his garden only returning it once he realised its
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significance the police also collected three ellen damn brand cigarette butts a black
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flip-flop shoe and a used condom the condom contained hannah's dna but according to police it was too
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contaminated to recover anyone else's however semen staining on hannah's body was viable for dna testing
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dna was also lifted from the cigarette butts at the time there were only six police
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officers stationed on cattau and their inexperience with major murder investigations quickly became evident
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firstly they didn't put a stop to boats coming and going from the island giving the perpetrator or perpetrators the
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opportunity to flee secondly their failure to properly secure the crime scene led to curious
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tourists and locals contaminating the scene as they gathered around to see what was going on
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some members of the public even took photos with their mobile phones and quickly posted them to social media
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before long graphic images of hannah and david's mutilated bodies were circulating online much to the horror of
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the victim's loved ones who were grappling to come to terms with the news back home
00:12:03
although a motive for the murders wasn't immediately obvious police didn't think
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it was a random attack given the extent of hannah and david's injuries they believed it was a crime of
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passion sparked by jealousy or anger they questioned david's travel companion chris ware who was highly distressed and
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unable to shed any light on the tragedy police were suspicious chris had an injury on his right hand
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which he insisted was the result of a prior accident he said he and david had been due to
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leave qatar the day after the murders and they'd made no enemies during their time on the island
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he couldn't think of any reason why someone would want to hurt david who was widely adored by those who knew him
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likewise hannah's friends had no information that could help with the investigation
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with no evidence to link hannah or david's friends to the crime police gave them permission to leave the island
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however they soon realised this was a mistake forensic examination of hannah's body
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revealed fragments of blonde hair in her hand this was significant given that chris
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was blonde whereas david's hair was brown a subsequent inspection of the hotel room david and chris had shared also
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revealed there was dried blood on a pair of david's pants police began to wonder whether david and
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chris could have been involved in some kind of love triangle that went violently awry
00:13:48
two days after hannah and david's bodies were found chris ware and his older brother james were stopped for further
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questioning at bangkok international airport as they attempted to leave the country
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james had spent time with david and chris on catal but had left the island the night before the murders had
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occurred regardless police ordered the brothers to stay in thailand until the results of
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dna testing came back news of the murders made international headlines creating a public relations
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nightmare for thailand where tourism accounts for 10 percent of the economy roughly 20 million tourists visit the
00:14:34
country each year but those numbers had recently been under threat in may of 2014 a military coup had
00:14:44
overthrown the democratically elected government and thailand had since been under martial law
00:14:51
the political instability combined with the fact that most travel insurance companies excluded cover for
00:14:58
destinations where martial law is in place meant the number of foreigners visiting thailand had been decreasing
00:15:06
with a brutal killer or killers targeting holidaymakers now on the loose the pressure was on for authorities to
00:15:12
make an arrest and fast adding to the pressure was the fact that the neighboring island of koppanyang had
00:15:21
developed an unsavory reputation that threatened to tarnish qatar's standing as a peaceful relaxing tourist
00:15:28
destination famous for its monthly full moon parties which attracted upwards of thirty
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thousand young revelers koppanyang had become notorious for drugs sexual assaults and robberies
00:15:43
many locals believed the same criminals who preyed on tourists on koppanyang were taking advantage of katau's growing
00:15:51
party scene thailand's self-appointed prime minister army chief general pray yutan orsha
00:16:00
appeared on television to address the issue of tourist safety commenting tourists think our country is beautiful
00:16:08
and safe so they can do whatever they want they can wear bikinis and walk everywhere
00:16:16
he then added that only tourists who were quote not beautiful should feel safe in bikinis a comment that sparked
00:16:24
international outrage and required the general to issue a public apology [Music]
00:16:32
within days 60 police officers had descended on qatar to expedite the investigation
00:16:39
upon inspecting the crime scene the island's most senior police officer concluded one thing
00:16:45
there was no way the murders were committed by a thai person he believed tyres simply weren't capable
00:16:53
of carrying out such a horrendous act of violence instead police focused their attention
00:17:00
on foreigners yet the semen staining found on hannah witheridge's body was determined to have
00:17:08
come from two asian males the dna of these men was also found on the ellen m cigarette bars along with
00:17:17
the dna of a third asian male as a result the ware brothers were officially cleared from the
00:17:24
investigation and free to return to the uk thai police were now forced to look inwards for potential suspects
00:17:37
the ac bar where hannah and david were last seen was known to be frequented by groups of aggressive drunken men and it
00:17:44
was theorized that hannah might have had a confrontation with one who then followed her and david as they walked
00:17:51
back to their hotel another possibility was that fishermen could have swam ashore from their boat
00:17:58
to commit the crimes then fled by sea without anyone ever knowing they were in the area
00:18:06
police began focusing on the large migrant burmese community that dominated the island
00:18:13
for the roughly two thousand permanent residents on qatar there were approximately five thousand burmese
00:18:19
workers who flocked from their neighboring country of myanmar looking for employment
00:18:25
given that they were willing to work for less money than the tyres burmese made up a majority of the island's labor
00:18:32
force many were undocumented and often exploited and treated disrespectfully by thais who considered them to be of a
00:18:41
lower social standing burmese workers who lived or worked within the vicinity of the crime scene
00:18:50
were rounded up on mass and required to provide dna samples and footprints to compare to those left in the sand at the
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murder scene documentation was also checked to identify those who were working in the
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country illegally raids were done on several homes and five burmese men were put under the
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spotlight after bloodstains were found on some of their clothes all up over 200 dna samples were
00:19:20
collected but none were a match to the crime scene twenty-five-year-old scottish musician
00:19:30
sean mckenna had been living on katau for some time and was a friend of david miller's from back home
00:19:38
crushed to hear what had happened sean deeply regretted not going to the ac bar with david on the night he was killed
00:19:47
in the days following the murders he'd heard many rumors circulating around the island including the two thai man had
00:19:54
attempted to molest hannah and david had stepped in prompting the tyres to kill the pair
00:20:02
drowning his woes at a local bar a group of local thai men approached sean and started asking him questions about his
00:20:09
friend feeling tipsy sean answered them before one of the men allegedly said it was you who killed them you've got
00:20:20
two people's deaths on your hands you are going to hang yourself tonight we are going to watch you hang
00:20:28
you die tonight terrified sean got up and ran he sprinted into a nearby supermarket
00:20:38
but two of the men followed him inside thinking quickly about how to protect himself sean logged into facebook on his
00:20:46
phone and posted a photo of the man along with the message thai mafia are trying to kill me please
00:20:54
help me the police eventually escorted shawn back to his hotel but fearing for his
00:21:02
life he fled into the jungle where he hid overnight before boarding the first boat off cattau in the morning
00:21:10
he then met up with the reporter for the daily telegraph to tell his story saying
00:21:16
he believed the men who approached him knew who had killed hannah and david and were looking for a scapegoat
00:21:23
they wanted shawn to take his own life so that it would fit with their narrative that the killer was a
00:21:29
westerner when the video of sean talking about this encounter circulated online some
00:21:38
astute viewers noticed that he had a two centimeter long wound on his right forearm that looked remarkably similar
00:21:45
to one on david miller's shoulder photos also circulated on social media of sean's guitar which he had left on
00:21:54
ketau and it appeared to be splattered with blood suspicions arose that shawn could have
00:22:01
been involved in the murders possibly in conjunction with some of his tyre friends and had created the story about
00:22:08
being threatened in order to detract attention from himself sean strongly disputed these allegations
00:22:16
explaining that the injuries and blood had come from a bike accident days before the murders
00:22:22
he left the country and went off the grid unlike other parts of the world in thailand the term mafia doesn't
00:22:34
necessarily relate to organized crime but to the influential families that hold a monopoly over certain areas
00:22:43
qatar initially served as a political prison with its first permanent inhabitants arriving in the 1930s long
00:22:51
before any authorities while katau had since been resettled into a tourist haven these families
00:22:59
still dominated the island owning a majority of the land and businesses they held great power and were generally
00:23:07
considered the unofficial leaders of the island the go-to people when any problems arose
00:23:15
the richest and most influential family on qatar was the do which ian family feared by many they owned a majority of
00:23:24
the businesses on siree beach including the ac bar and resort where david and hannah were last seen alive
00:23:33
at the head of the family was warupan do whichian followed closely by his brother
00:23:39
mondry what better known as mon mon had been the first person to arrive at the crime scene after the beach
00:23:48
cleaner alerted him to the discovery of the bodies when footage from the scene was
00:23:54
broadcast on the news it struck many years odd that mon was allowed to join the police in the cordoned off area
00:24:03
he was seen freely walking around the crime scene which skeptics believe gave him the opportunity to contaminate any
00:24:10
evidence while providing a valid explanation as to why any of his dna might be found suspicions immediately arose that
00:24:20
the thai mafia were involved in the murders and were working in conjunction with the police to make the problem go
00:24:26
away some thai police had a reputation for corruption and were often accused of accepting bribes and protecting those in
00:24:36
positions of power bolstering these theories was the fact that mondawichian was one of the men
00:24:44
that sean mckenna had photographed after they followed him into the supermarket urging him to take his own life
00:24:52
the other was a police officer as accusations of a cover-up gathered momentum the police announced they
00:25:03
wouldn't be swayed by any local influence and that the mafia would be looked into like anyone else
00:25:12
just over a week after the double homicide police announced that mondowichian had been taken into custody
00:25:19
for questioning after he was captured in cctv footage in the vicinity of the crime scene around the time the murders
00:25:27
took place they also sought to arrest mon's nephew twenty-two-year-old nunsod douwichian
00:25:35
who bore resemblance to another figure captured in the footage and was reported to have fled the island shortly after
00:25:42
the murders [Music] rumors swelled that numsod had hired a speedboat in the early hours of
00:25:48
september 15 and it was seen speeding towards the mainland leaving his family to cover for him
00:25:57
numsod was eventually located but he claimed he hadn't been on katao at the time of the murders at all
00:26:04
he said he'd been over 400 kilometers away at university in bangkok and even had stills taken from cctv footage to
00:26:13
prove it concluding this to be a solid alibi numsod was publicly cleared from the
00:26:21
investigation as was his uncle mon mon later explained on the channel 4 documentary murder in paradise that the
00:26:30
real reason he chased sean mckenna into the supermarket was because he wanted to
00:26:35
question him about the blood on his guitar by now online sleuths had become fixated
00:26:44
on the case and they remained convinced that the mafia were involved in hannah and david's murders
00:26:51
examining the cctv stills of nomsodowichian in bangkok they noticed that the footage hadn't come from the
00:26:59
university at all but from the lobby of numsaud's bangkok apartment next door it was time stamped at 9 15 a.m on
00:27:09
september 15 several hours after the murders were thought to have taken place some online sleuths speculated that the
00:27:18
look of the lobby was outdated indicating the footage had been captured some time ago but there was no evidence
00:27:26
to support this allegations arose that the stills were fake and concerned citizens called for
00:27:34
cctv footage from the university itself to be released regardless police closed the book on the
00:27:43
douwichian family frustrated by the accusations against his family katel headman warapan do
00:27:51
whichian announced the bizarre challenge if anyone could prove that his family were involved in hannah and david's
00:27:59
murders he'd pay them one million baht the equivalent to around forty thousand australian dollars
00:28:09
two weeks passed without any significant breakthroughs in the case the police came under criticism from the
00:28:16
british press for chasing the wrong leads publicly naming suspects who were later cleared and for wrongly jumping
00:28:24
from one suspect to the next without fully completing each line of inquiry thai police rejected an offer of
00:28:32
assistance from the british embassy saying they were confident that an arrest would soon be made
00:28:39
one bbc journalist remarked watching the thai police struggle to answer this mystery with the eyes of the
00:28:47
world on them has felt like being part of a sometimes farcical performance in which we the media are the audience
00:28:59
there were roughly 300 cctv cameras around siree beach but only 106 of them were working on the night that hannah
00:29:08
witheridge and david miller were killed security cameras at the ac bar didn't face towards the beachside exit
00:29:16
so it couldn't be determined exactly when hannah and david had left the venue given that david had entered around 208
00:29:25
am and the pair's bodies had been found around 5 am the murders had occurred somewhere within that time frame
00:29:35
cctv footage captured in the area within those hours revealed three young asian males traveling on a motorcycle with the
00:29:43
guitar in tow after stopping at a 7-eleven convenience store to buy beer and cigarettes the
00:29:50
trio made their way towards the beach and disappeared from view later at around 3 45 am a security
00:29:59
camera at a health restaurant near the crime scene captured an asian man running shirtless down the street
00:30:07
although he soon disappeared from view his shadow could be seen entering a shortcut that led to a nearby bungalow
00:30:16
on october 1 just over two weeks after the murders police visited the bungalow and found that a young burmese migrant
00:30:24
named mormor resided there when asked about his whereabouts on the night of the murders mormore said he'd
00:30:33
gone down to saree beach with two of his friends zorlin and waypio to play the guitar
00:30:41
they'd sat on a fallen log underneath the pine tree sharing cigarettes and having a few drinks
00:30:48
more more then rode the motorcycle to his girlfriend's house when he returned home zorlin and waypio
00:30:56
were there asleep he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary nor was there anything strange
00:31:03
about their behaviour in the days following police ordered moremore to take them to
00:31:11
the homes of zorlin and waypio for further questioning at 1am on october 2 a team of police
00:31:20
swarmed their house where the men lived with six other workers twenty-two-year-old azor lin had grown
00:31:28
up poor and uneducated in a remote village in myanmar's rakhine state that had no electricity or running water
00:31:37
his family grew just enough crops and raised just enough livestock to get by after his father passed away zorlin
00:31:46
crossed the border into thailand looking for better paying work and secured a job
00:31:51
at a bar on saree beach although it didn't pay well it was more than he could make in myanmar and he
00:31:59
worked hard to send as much money as he could to his mother back home police asked to see zorlin's passport
00:32:08
but he couldn't provide one so they placed him under arrest for illegally entering the country
00:32:15
as for 22 year old waypio he was nowhere to be found like zorlin waypio also came from a poor
00:32:24
remote village in myanmar's rakhine state with very limited resources and had come to qatar to take advantage of
00:32:32
the employment opportunities he'd recently been offered a new job on the mainland and was currently traveling
00:32:40
on an overnight boat that was due to arrive in the city of surat thani at 6 00 am
00:32:47
when the boat pulled in officers found waypio hiding on board and placed him under arrest when he was unable to
00:32:54
provide a passport or valid work permit in custody they were questioned as potential witnesses to the murder of
00:33:04
hannah and david both men signed written forms consenting to have their dna collected
00:33:13
weipio was taken back to qatar for questioning and it didn't take long for him to crack
00:33:21
within hours waypio confessed to everything case file will be back shortly thank you
00:33:38
for supporting us by listening to this episode sponsors it was a night like any other for case
00:33:44
file team member jess she ate dinner with her family talked to the kids about school and then suddenly she was gone
00:33:52
off to play best fiends in her bedroom if you have fun playing best fiends it's no secret why you sneak off to play
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five that's friends without the r best fiends when life gets busy it can be so easy to
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put your mental health on the back burner there's bills to pay places to be and things to do
00:35:08
but how we care for our minds affects how we experience life so it's important to invest time and care into keeping
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them healthy there are plenty of ways to support a healthy brain like taking up a new hobby
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learning a language or having a power nap there's also better help online therapy
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[Music] in thailand it is customary for those accused of committing major crimes to
00:36:32
participate in a public reenactment of their offences the purpose is to help investigators
00:36:38
visualize the crimes and to corroborate confessions but it also serves as a form
00:36:44
of public humiliation thai culture places a large emphasis on what's known as face which is similar to
00:36:51
the western concept of reputation losing face is something that thai people avoid at all costs and a public
00:37:00
reenactment of one's crimes serves as the ultimate degradation [Music] on october 3 hordes of press and curious
00:37:09
onlookers gathered around a cyree beach as zorlin and waypio were led to the crime scene in handicaps
00:37:18
wearing bulletproof vests and helmets for their own protection the two men used a dustpan in place of the garden
00:37:25
hoe as instructed by the police zorlin and waypio re-enacted their movements from
00:37:32
the early hours of the morning on september 15 complete with the guitar according to the official police report
00:37:41
it all started after their friend mormore left to visit his girlfriend zorlin and waypio remained sitting on a
00:37:50
fallen log playing the guitar and smoking cigarettes when through the darkness they saw hannah and david
00:37:57
kissing in a conservative country where public affection is frowned upon and rarely
00:38:04
seen the sight aroused them [Music] overcome with sexual jealousy they decided to knock a david out so that
00:38:12
they could rape hannah the pair found the garden hoe nearby and snuck up behind the couple striking
00:38:20
david on the head several times realizing he was dead they dragged his body into the sea
00:38:28
they then used the hoe to inflict several blows to hannah's head rendering her unconscious at which point they took
00:38:35
turns raping her afterwards they knew they had to kill hannah to conceal what they'd done so
00:38:42
they hit her in the head with the hoe several more times [Music] waypio then stole david's sunglasses and
00:38:51
iphone he broke the sunglasses and threw them away but gave the iphone to a friend
00:38:58
named ren officers went to ren's home and found the smashed broken iphone in the
00:39:04
backyard a check of its serial number with british authorities confirmed that it
00:39:10
belonged to david miller armed with the confession the authorities were able to place a rush on
00:39:18
the dna testing and it was soon revealed that the semen on hannah's body had come
00:39:23
from both zorlin and waipio yo their dna was also found on the murder weapon and on cigarette butts recovered
00:39:32
from the crime scene zorlin and waypio were both formally charged with five offenses
00:39:41
premeditated murder killing to conceal a criminal offense rape a legal entry into thailand and
00:39:48
staying in the country without permission many members of the public had believed
00:39:58
it was just a matter of time before the crimes were blamed on a migrant and when
00:40:02
news hit that the burmese workers had been arrested for the murders skepticism ran
00:40:08
rife a commentary in the bangkok post explained that the skepticism didn't just stem from the poor handling of the
00:40:16
police investigation but quote from the police's long-standing notoriety for arresting poor and
00:40:23
powerless scapegoats to save rich criminals who can afford to buy their innocence
00:40:30
the public outrage became so strong that police threatened to charge anyone who questioned their
00:40:36
findings the national police chief described the investigation as a perfect job but for the critics there were
00:40:44
several details about zorlin and waypio's alleged involvement that raised serious questions
00:40:52
first of all when the two men were taken into police custody they were only questioned as witnesses not suspects
00:41:00
it was therefore suspicious that they would both voluntarily confess to such serious crimes in the absence of any
00:41:07
incriminating evidence there was talk that the police might have offered the two burmese men money
00:41:15
in exchange for a confession which they ignorantly agreed to without realising the seriousness of the consequences
00:41:24
during the re-enactment of the murders some noted that zorlin and waypio had to be guided every step of the way as
00:41:32
though they had no idea what was expected of them as described by author suzanne buchanan
00:41:40
in her book titled the curse of the turtle the true story of thailand's backpacker murders the accused were
00:41:47
often manhandled into position by the police and if they pointed in one direction the police would correct them
00:41:54
and they'd then point the opposite way suzanne remarked zorlin and waypio visibly had no clue
00:42:04
what they were meant to be doing they had to be physically prompted at every turn by the police who were
00:42:11
obviously choreographing the entire thing the two tiny men looked like puppets on
00:42:17
a string critics also questioned azor lin and waypio's supposed motive when announcing the arrests police
00:42:28
initially said that the killers had been aroused upon seeing hannah and david quote making love
00:42:34
but this explanation didn't add up for one david's dna wasn't found on hannah's body meaning the pair hadn't
00:42:43
had sex secondly to say that the killers had been spontaneously motivated by sexual
00:42:49
desire contrasted scientific studies about what drives men to rape women a majority of psychologists believe that
00:42:59
rape isn't driven by lust but is usually an act of premeditated violence driven by the desire for power and control
00:43:08
for some the police misunderstanding served as further proof that they were creating a narrative against the two
00:43:14
accused in the absence of any real motive there was also the question of whether
00:43:21
zorlin and waypio were physically capable of overpowering two victims both of the burmese men were very slight
00:43:30
in stature only standing around five foot tall whereas david miller was roughly six foot two with an athletic
00:43:37
build striking david in the head overpowering him and dragging his body into the water
00:43:44
while simultaneously restraining hannah would have been no easy feat for two men
00:43:49
of the accused size furthermore 20 days had passed between the murders taking place and zorlin and
00:43:58
waypio being arrested yet the pair had made no attempt to flee the island reports stated that waypio was arrested
00:44:08
when trying to escape on a boat to surat tani but waipio claimed he'd simply been
00:44:13
visiting the mainland to start a new job if the two burmese migrants were responsible for the murders it made
00:44:22
sense that they would have left the island as soon as possible to escape not just the authorities but also the local
00:44:28
mafia these details aside some were also suspicious about the police handling of
00:44:35
the evidence david's body and clothing belonging to both him and tana had been moved shortly
00:44:43
after officers first arrived at the crime scene potentially disturbing evidence police explained they did this
00:44:51
to avoid the items being washed away by the tide but the tide had already gone out for the day and it was therefore
00:44:58
unlikely that the items would be dragged away by the current human rights groups had been following
00:45:07
hannah and david's case and were concerned that zorlin and waypio had been treated unfairly
00:45:14
from the get-go it was clear that police didn't want the killer to be thai not only had one of the lead
00:45:21
investigators said there was no way a thai person could be capable of such a crime the sub-district head of katau
00:45:29
commented if another foreigner killed hannah and david then the damage for us won't be
00:45:36
too bad if it's something else it could really hurt our reputation when zorlin and waypio were arrested the
00:45:47
dna consent forms and statements they signed were both written in thai however neither of the burmese men could
00:45:55
speak or read tai they'd been provided with a burmese translator but he wasn't an official
00:46:03
court appointed translator he was a burmese pancake vendor who spoke neither thai nor zorlin and
00:46:11
waypio's native rakhine dialect the pancake vendor was also part of an ethnic minority that had a long history
00:46:20
of conflict with myanmar's recline state which is where zorlin and waypio came from
00:46:28
there were also concerns that the public reenactment which human rights groups viewed as antiquated would harm the
00:46:35
accused right to a fair trial officials from the myanmar embassy visited zorlin and waipio in jail along
00:46:46
with members of thailand's national human rights commission the lawyers council of thailand and the migrant
00:46:52
workers rights network determined that both men were naive uneducated and easily coerced
00:47:02
along with the forced dna testing and questionable translator the accused hadn't been appointed a lawyer or told
00:47:10
of their rights they didn't seem to understand the full weight of the crimes they'd been accused
00:47:16
of nor the fact that they wouldn't be released any time soon another detail that couldn't be
00:47:24
overlooked was the fact that the two young men appeared to be sporting several bruises
00:47:33
zorlin and waypio told these organizations that what really happened on the night of the murders was that
00:47:39
they'd met at moormore's workplace which was part of a resort owned by the dorwitchien family
00:47:46
they waited around for more more to finish and the trio then purchased some beer and cigarettes from a 7-eleven
00:47:53
before riding a motorbike down to syree beach at around 2am they sat on a fall on log
00:48:01
playing a guitar that zorlin had brought with him it was dark and they couldn't see more
00:48:07
than roughly five meters in front of them they spent roughly an hour playing the
00:48:13
guitar while passing the beers and cigarettes between them more more then left for a while at which
00:48:20
point zorlin and waypio made another quick trip to the convenience store to buy two more bottles of beer
00:48:28
shortly after they returned to the beach mormore rejoined them but he didn't stay
00:48:33
long before heading off to visit his girlfriend it started to lightly rain so zorlin and
00:48:42
waypio decided to call it a night as they made their way along the beach zorlin decided to take a quick dip in
00:48:51
the sea in the hopes of curbing a nagging headache he placed the guitar down and jumped
00:48:57
into the water fully clothed waypio decided to join him taking off his shoes and shirt and piling them onto
00:49:06
the shore they swam for around 15 minutes and when they got out waypio's shoes shirt and
00:49:15
the guitar were missing there was a group of about 20 people watching a fire twirling show outside
00:49:23
the ac bar but other than that they hadn't seen anyone pass by at no point did they see hannah
00:49:30
witheridge or david miller the two men walked around looking for their belongings but couldn't find them
00:49:39
so they decided to make the short walk back to moormore's bungalow taking a shortcut down a nearby laneway
00:49:47
mormore was still at his girlfriend's house so zorlin and waypio let themselves inside
00:49:55
zorlin hung his wet clothes out to dry and went to bed but waipio couldn't relax
00:50:02
the missing shirt he'd been wearing belonged to mormor and he wanted to return it plus he needed his shoes for
00:50:09
work the next day waypio returned to the beach on his own but still couldn't find the missing
00:50:17
items admitting defeat he walked back to mormore's house finding an iphone and pair of sunglasses along the way which
00:50:26
he decided to keep he got back to moormore's bungalow around 4 am with more more returning
00:50:34
from his girlfriends shortly after the next morning zorlin and waypio returned to the village where they both
00:50:44
lived weipo showed the iphone to his friend ran waypio tried to turn the phone on but it
00:50:53
required a passcode so he plugged it into rand's charger and left it there before heading off for work
00:51:02
when ran later heard about hannah and david's murders he panicked realising that waypio had found the
00:51:10
iphone right near the crime scene ran smashed the phone to pieces and hid it behind his house out of fear that he'd
00:51:17
be implicated in the crime the two accused claimed this was the same version of events that they'd given
00:51:30
when they were first taken in for questioning but the police didn't believe them
00:51:36
instead they'd taken dna samples without zorlin and waypio's consent and forced them to sign documents written in thai
00:51:44
which they didn't understand when zorlin denied committing the murders the burmese translator attacked
00:51:52
him threatening that he'd be killed and thrown to sea the translator urged him to confess
00:51:59
saying that he'd only get four or five years in prison as opposed to certain death
00:52:07
both men claimed that police tortured them by stripping them naked and leaving them in heavily air-conditioned rooms
00:52:13
with the blindfolds and handcuffs on a plastic bag was placed over zorlin's head in an attempt to suffocate him
00:52:23
waypio was beaten and had his testicles electrocuted at one point the police allegedly said
00:52:31
that other burmese workers had been burned to death on the island and warned those who don't have passports don't
00:52:40
have rights if they disappear nobody would notice humiliated terrified and in agony zorlin
00:52:50
and waypio eventually couldn't take it anymore both men reluctantly confessed to the
00:52:57
crime at no point were they informed of the charges against them or of their rights
00:53:03
to a lawyer when zorlin and waypio were whisked off to siree beach to stage a re-enactment
00:53:11
the next day they claimed the burmese translator dictated their every move instructing
00:53:18
them what to do and say a legal team from the lawyers council of thailand agreed to take on the case pro
00:53:27
bono and almost two months after hannah and david's murders zorlin and waypio formally retracted their earlier
00:53:35
statements and both declared that they'd be pleading not guilty to the crime myanmar officials warned that unfair
00:53:44
treatment of zorlin and weipo could harm the relationship between the two countries but thai police staunchly
00:53:51
denied the allegations of torture they maintained that their interrogations had been done by the book
00:53:59
and both of the accused had confessed that their own volition the public prosecutor stated that the
00:54:08
retracted confessions wouldn't have any impact on the case due to the strength of the forensic evidence
00:54:15
the families of hannah witheridge and david miller slammed the reports that zorlin and waipio had been used as
00:54:22
scapegoats and expressed confidence in the investigation the millers said from what we have seen the suspects have
00:54:32
a difficult case to answer the evidence against them appears to be powerful and convincing
00:54:42
for supporters of zorlin and waypio the dna evidence that supposedly linked them
00:54:47
to the crime scene was also dubious authorities had never provided the detailed dna test results which should
00:54:56
include statistical data analysis and a probability ratio instead they merely presented a one-page
00:55:05
report that contained handwritten alterations to the dates and no stamp to confirm that the dna had been tested in
00:55:13
a laboratory that complied with internationally accepted standards there was no documented chain of custody
00:55:21
or case notes as would be required in any western country furthermore dna testing is a complex
00:55:29
process that can take a significant amount of time but in zorlin and waypio's case investigators were able to
00:55:36
produce a result in around 24 hours these discrepancies prompted accusations that the dna evidence had either been
00:55:46
planted or manipulated to frame the accused jane torpin an australian expert on dna
00:55:54
profiling who looked at the evidence said crime scenes are notoriously difficult
00:56:00
to gather quality dna samples from cases like the one on catal which deal with mixed samples are fraught with
00:56:09
danger complex and sometimes unreliable statistical calculations must be carried
00:56:16
out to determine the probability that someone other than the accused could match the recovered sample
00:56:24
torpin challenged the police's statement that the dna was confirmed to have come
00:56:29
from the accused explaining dna profiling is predicated on statistics that's the whole point
00:56:38
you don't just say it's a match it's not fingerprinting you need to give significance to that
00:56:45
match for the skeptics one major question remained if zorlin and waypio didn't kill hannah
00:56:59
and david then who did katau was advertised as a safe destination and it was widely reported
00:57:07
that a westerner hadn't fallen victim to a homicide on the island for over a decade
00:57:13
but some believed this wasn't necessarily the case prior to hannah and david's murder a
00:57:20
couple of incidents had occurred that had people talking in august 2012 32 year old british i.t
00:57:30
consultant ben harrington was holidaying on cyre beach with his brother and a friend when he ventured out on a
00:57:37
motorbike to get a beer at a nearby bar shortly after ben's lifeless body was found on the side of a quiet road
00:57:47
police determined that he had accidentally ridden the bike into a cement electricity pole fatally breaking
00:57:54
his neck to the point that it was twisted back 180 degrees ben's family wasn't convinced
00:58:03
thai authorities were eager to cremate ben's body straight after his death but the harringtons refused and fought
00:58:10
hard to have ben's remains repatriated for a post-mortem when his body was returned his wallet
00:58:18
and cash were missing leading the harringtons to suspect that ben might have been robbed and then killed to
00:58:25
cover it up an autopsy performed in the uk revealed there were no marks on ben's neck nor
00:58:33
was his neck broken a coronal inquest was unable to determine whether ben had indeed died of
00:58:41
an accident but confirmed his death was due to a ruptured aorta caused by some sort of collision
00:58:50
fifteen months later the four-member pearson family traveled to qatar from their home in the english city of derby
00:58:57
to ring in the new year together on new year's eve they celebrated with dinner at a syree beach restaurant
00:59:05
before retiring to the nearby hillside resort at around 1 30 am 25 year old nick pearson had injured his
00:59:14
knee a few days prior and required help from his father to hobble to his bungalow but other than that he was in
00:59:22
good spirits the next morning when nick's family went to check on him the door to his room was
00:59:29
locked but nick wasn't inside shortly after scuba divers traversing the waters in front of the hillside
00:59:37
resort found nick's body floating in the sea he was still wearing the same clothes
00:59:44
that he'd worn to bed police determined that he drowned after likely falling 50 feet from his bungalow
00:59:53
above but for the pearson family this didn't add up for one nick hadn't sustained a single
01:00:01
broken bone the cliffside was also full of imposing boulders and if nick had fallen one of
01:00:08
the rocks would have likely caught his fore or his body would be badly injured police considered it an open and shut
01:00:17
case but the pearson family suspected foul play rumors circulated that nick could have
01:00:24
gotten on the wrong side of locals after taking a liking to one of their girlfriends the day before his death
01:00:32
when the pearsons started making their own enquiries they were warned to leave cattau as there were powerful people who
01:00:39
lived on the island nick's body was returned to the uk where a coroner was unable to exclude the
01:00:47
possibility that he had been assaulted prior to his death and recorded an open verdict
01:00:56
when nick's parents heard about the murders of hannah witheridge and david miller nick's mother tracy told
01:01:02
reporters for the mirror we don't believe the men they've arrested for killing hannah and david
01:01:09
have anything to do with it it's just a plan to show the police have acted so they don't put tourists off
01:01:17
as soon as i saw the news about hannah and david i cried for them and their parents because i know how hard it is to
01:01:25
get the truth on that island for 23 year old sam venning his 2013 holiday to katau seemed like a distant
01:01:38
memory but when he saw the news about the double murders on sairi beach it all came rushing back
01:01:46
the location where the crime took place was all too familiar washed over sam as he realized
01:01:54
it could have easily been me in that body bag fifteen months earlier sam had been
01:02:02
drinking at a ketau bar with twenty-year-old canadian backpacker carla bartel when the venue closed the pair headed
01:02:11
down to the southern end of cyree beach sitting on a wall near the exact spot that david and hannah had been murdered
01:02:21
chatting in the dark they suddenly heard a motorbike pull up followed by the scuffle of flip-flops
01:02:28
split seconds later two masked men appeared instantly got up and ran screaming for
01:02:36
help before sam could fully comprehend what was happening he felt something hard
01:02:42
struck the side of his head he fell backwards the sand beneath breaking his fall
01:02:50
when he came to moments later blood was dripping down his face the men had disappeared but carla's
01:02:59
hysterical screams still echoed through the night carla and sam had no idea what motivated
01:03:07
the attack but they believed the perpetrators had been scared off by carla's screams
01:03:14
they didn't report the incident choosing to forget and move on but after hannah and david were murdered they wondered
01:03:22
whether they might have narrowly escaped a similar fate carla and sam didn't get a good look of
01:03:29
their attackers through the dark but they did notice one thing the men were of average hide and build
01:03:37
not short like zorlin and waypio realizing this information could be vital to the witheredge miller
01:03:46
investigation both carla and sam contacted the relevant thai authorities wanting to provide a statement
01:03:54
neither of them ever heard another word [Music] while zorlin and waypio awaited trial
01:04:05
controversy continued to haunt qatar on new year's eve of 2014 29 year old frenchman dmitry povs
01:04:15
welcomed the new year by partying all night with a group of friends dimitri had been living on cattau and at
01:04:23
around 11am on new year's day he headed home alone to his rented bungalow hours later his lifeless body was found
01:04:33
hanging from the rafters of his front balcony [Music] police arrived and found a note nearby
01:04:41
concluding it an open and shut case of suicide but when photos circulated online others
01:04:48
were skeptical the noose which was noticeably loose had been fashioned from a pair of shoelaces
01:04:56
and oddly there were no significant marks around dimitri's neck his loved ones were adamant that he'd
01:05:03
given no indication that he'd been depressed or was having suicidal thoughts but most suspiciously when dimitri's
01:05:13
body was found his hands were tied behind his back word on the island was that he'd been
01:05:21
romantically interested in a woman who was involved with the local mafia just three weeks later the parents of 23
01:05:31
year old christina anisley became worried when they hadn't heard from their daughter in several days
01:05:39
christina had recently travelled solo to katau from england and had told her parents that she'd come down with a
01:05:46
painful chest infection at 6 00 am on january 21 2015 a cleaner found christina deceased in
01:05:56
her sari beach hotel room she was lying face down with a bloody nose police determined that she died from
01:06:07
natural causes after lethally mixing alcohol with antibiotics and painkillers both of which she bought over the
01:06:14
counter at a nearby pharmacy christina's parents weren't convinced they'd heard the allegations of police
01:06:24
cover-ups in thailand and requested that their daughter's body be returned to the
01:06:29
uk for an autopsy by the time christina's body arrived on home soil it had already been embalmed
01:06:38
meaning that a toxicology report couldn't be conducted case file will be back shortly thank you
01:06:56
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deliver quality content [Music] with more suspicious deaths of tourists on katau tensions escalated as the trial
01:10:19
of zorlin and waypio drew near reports continued to circulate that the police were covering for the mafia and
01:10:27
that locals who knew the truth about who killed hannah witheridge and david miller had fled the island out of
01:10:33
concerns for their own safety lawyers for the defense were coming up against hurdle after hurdle
01:10:40
not only were they denied access to a 900-page police report that formed the basis of the prosecution's case
01:10:48
witnesses from the burmese community weren't willing to testify because they were too afraid to come forward
01:10:55
the defence team were forced to build their case by relying heavily on media speculation
01:11:02
after being granted several extensions the trial finally commenced in the cost samoye provincial court in july 2015
01:11:12
david miller's parents and brother traveled to thailand to be there for the proceedings first stopping at the scene
01:11:18
of the crime to lay mementos in david's honour david's father ian said they had come
01:11:25
with an open mind acknowledging the speculation that was running rampant online ian said
01:11:34
we are here for david because of his tragic death we'll go with the flow as much as we can
01:11:41
we won't comment on the trial process we'll be dignified for david [Music] a crowdfunding appeal organised by
01:11:50
hannah witheridge's sister laura helped cover the costs for hannah's family to attend the trial but the family
01:11:56
clarified they wouldn't be making any public comments in thailand criminal trials are overseen
01:12:05
by a panel of three judges with no jury present in this instance press weren't allowed
01:12:12
into the courtroom and the public were forbidden from taking notes the proceedings were held entirely in
01:12:20
thai although english translators were present so that the victims families could stay abreast of what was happening
01:12:29
the days were long and exhausting with some court sessions running for over 10 hours
01:12:35
according to the book the curse of the turtle the true story of thailand's backpacker murders the public prosecutor
01:12:42
and one of the judges often fell asleep while the leading judge sometimes got up
01:12:48
in the middle of proceedings and left the courtroom the defense argued that the police
01:12:55
investigation was botched and inadequate and that tunnel vision on zorlin and waypio had prevented police from chasing
01:13:03
any other leads the accused status as illegal migrants made them vulnerable and convenient
01:13:10
scapegoats leading to one lawful treatment while in police custody the prosecution stood by the forensic
01:13:18
evidence as proof of the defendant's guilt yet because zorlin and waypio didn't know what they were consenting to when
01:13:26
they signed a dna consent form the defense argued that the dna evidence should be inadmissible
01:13:34
their request was denied testifying for the defense was dr kunjin porntip one of thailand's leading
01:13:44
forensic pathologists according to dr porn tip dna testing in thailand is incorrect in 60 percent of
01:13:53
cases she expressed her doubts about the accuracy of the dna taken from the sari
01:13:59
beach crime scene and the way these samples were handled the police had reported that dna from
01:14:06
the accused had been found on the murder weapon dr porn tip had tested the murder weapon
01:14:13
in her laboratory and found dna from david miller and an unknown asian male but none from zorlin or ypo
01:14:24
although when questioned by the prosecution she conceded that this could be explained by the accused having worn
01:14:30
gloves or washing the weapon the prosecution were undeterred by this testimony as they believed the semen
01:14:40
found on hannah's body indisputably linked the accused to the crime the defense therefore requested that the
01:14:48
dna from the semen samples be independently retested arguing that the evidence wasn't collected tested or
01:14:56
analyzed properly their request was denied by police on the grounds that the sample had been
01:15:03
used up and was no longer viable the trial continued sporadically over the course of several months until the
01:15:14
verdict was handed down on december 24 2015. families of both the victims and the
01:15:22
accused that gathered outside the courtroom along with members of the press as zorlin and waypio were led
01:15:28
inside wearing shackles and orange prison jumpsuits the mothers of the accused had been
01:15:35
brought in from myanmar and began wailing hysterically when they saw their sons waypio's mother pleaded
01:15:45
please release my son my son did not do this my son is not that kind of person please i beg for
01:15:53
justice inside the judges declared as all in and way po guilty for all charges and
01:16:02
sentenced to both men to death they were also ordered to pay david miller's family for his stolen phone and
01:16:10
return the murder weapon to its rightful owner the mothers of the two men were led
01:16:17
wailing from the courtroom hannah's family weren't present for the verdicts but released a statement saying
01:16:27
the past year has served as an unimaginably impossible time for our family we have found the trial process
01:16:34
extremely difficult and our trips out to thailand to attend court made for particularly distressing experiences
01:16:42
we found listening to proceedings very challenging and we have had to endure a lot of painful and confusing information
01:16:51
we now need time as a family to digest the outcome of the trial and figure out the most appropriate way to tell our
01:16:58
story outside court david miller's brother michael told reporters we believe the result today represents
01:17:09
justice for david and hannah it is our opinion that the evidence against waypio and azor lynn is
01:17:16
absolutely overwhelming they raped to satisfy their selfish desires and murdered to cover up that
01:17:24
fact they have shown no remorse during the trial we believe that after a difficult start
01:17:32
the royal thai police conducted a methodical and thorough investigation we hope the campaigners who have
01:17:40
relentlessly promoted this case will respect the process of law and the decision of the court
01:17:48
the verdict prompted widespread backlash sparking protests on the thailand myanmar border and the thai embassy in
01:17:56
myanmar in support of zorlin and waypio the thai government attempted to distance itself from the controversy
01:18:04
saying the accused had the right to appeal and that the verdict needed to be respected
01:18:11
from prison zorlin and waypio released a statement that said we are innocent and we are not involved
01:18:20
in this horrific crime we didn't kill we want freedom on january 3 support for the burmese duo
01:18:33
grew after a 37-minute long video appeared online from the international activist group anonymous
01:18:41
known for orchestrating cyber attacks against the various government organizations and corporations anonymous
01:18:47
had been conducting its own investigations into the allegations of police corruption in thailand
01:18:54
citing similar instances of wrongful convictions and bungled investigations the group concluded that migrant workers
01:19:02
were often scapegoated to ensure tourists weren't discouraged from visiting the country
01:19:09
a masked spokesman for anonymous said we do not like the facts in this recent qatar case and we do not believe the
01:19:18
thai court has convicted the actual murderers of this crime anonymous calls for this case to be
01:19:25
reinvestigated with credible forensic specialists they also encouraged people to
01:19:32
reconsider traveling to thailand until thai police improved the way they handled rape and murder cases involving
01:19:39
foreigners and showed more respect for victims in a bid to apply pressure to the
01:19:46
authorities anonymous hacked into the websites of 14 thai police organizations replacing the website text with an image
01:19:54
of the iconic anonymous mask along with the message failed law we want justice boycott thailand
01:20:08
days later on friday january 8 2016 a ketau security guard was patrolling a saree beach resort when he found the
01:20:17
body of 26 year old british bricklayer luke miller floating at the bottom of a swimming pool
01:20:24
luke had traveled to thailand in late december with two friends and according to a post on his facebook page he had
01:20:31
spent the past two weeks living the dream police concluded that luke was intoxicated when he decided to show off
01:20:40
to a group of partygoers by jumping into the pool from the nearby dj booth he sustained a head injury in the process
01:20:48
and drowned as a result however this explanation didn't seem to add up if luke had been showing off why were
01:20:59
there no witnesses to the incident and why had nobody called for help also it would have been very out of
01:21:06
character for luke who was known to be afraid of water when luke's travel companions went to
01:21:14
identify his body they noticed hand-shaped bruises on his arms rumors began to spread that luke had
01:21:22
been assaulted the night before his death and accusations of a cover-up immediately began circulating adding
01:21:29
further fuel to the controversial verdict in the hannah witheridge and david miller case
01:21:37
two days after luke miller's death hannah's sister laura became incensed after someone she knew made a comment
01:21:44
about thailand being the most beautiful place in the world she made a scornful post on her facebook
01:21:51
page remarking aesthetically on a postcard or photograph maybe however i have to disagree
01:22:01
lots of things look beautiful you only have to consider a lion or tiger beautiful to look at yes but get too
01:22:10
close and they will tear you apart and feed you to their young my point being that aesthetic beauty can
01:22:17
lure you into a very dangerous trap expressing her disappointment in the handling of her sister's murder
01:22:26
investigation laura accused thai police of being corrupt and covering up the killings
01:22:34
she claimed to have received death threats from thai people and that tyres had offered her family money to keep
01:22:40
quiet about the murders laura's allegations made the news and in response thai authorities announced they
01:22:48
were considering legal action against her later that year britain's channel 4 released a documentary about the case
01:22:57
titled murder in paradise the mayor of kutao told the filmmakers foreigners who come to thailand they
01:23:07
live the lifestyle they want to without realising it is not their country they are not allowed to do as they wish
01:23:15
there is a difference between our culture and their culture it all depends on fate
01:23:26
this string of suspicious deaths and disappearances hadn't gone unnoticed by the international press who was soon
01:23:32
dubbing katau death island and warning travellers of the dangers that lurked on this so-called paradise
01:23:41
online message boards and social media sites became peppered with people who shared their own horror stories about
01:23:47
the island and some even speculated that a serial killer was on the loose on katau
01:23:55
zorlin and weipo appealed their conviction and on march 1 2017 the results were announced
01:24:03
the court determined that their trial had been adequate and reliable and therefore the guilty verdict and death
01:24:10
sentence would be upheld but kotel was far from being out of the spotlight thirty-year-old elise de la maine had
01:24:21
spent two years backpacking around asia and australia when she called her mother
01:24:26
her on april 17 2017 to say she was ready to return home to belgium elise had been staying at a yoga and
01:24:36
tantra retreat on copenhagen and she booked a ferry to the mainland for april 19.
01:24:42
from there she would continue on to bangkok however when that day came elise unexpectedly disembarked from the ferry
01:24:52
on katau she left her luggage on board taking only a small backpack before checking
01:24:59
into a budget hotel near the ferry terminal for reasons unknown she used a fake surname and refused to provide her
01:25:08
passport number on the evening of her arrival elise was forced to switch hotels when the
01:25:16
bungalow she was staying in caught fire she then walked two and a half kilometers through the jungle and
01:25:23
checked into a hotel onto north bay where she booked another ticket to bangkok due to the part on april 24.
01:25:33
elise never boarded the ferry several days after her arrival on ketau locals noticed that a monitor lizard was
01:25:43
acting strangely they followed it into the jungle and found elisa's decomposing remains
01:25:50
ravaged by wildlife police declared elisa's death a suicide saying that she had hung herself from a
01:25:58
tree but elise's mother said that her daughter showed no signs of suicidal thoughts and had been rational during
01:26:06
their last conversation elise hadn't left a suicide note and it didn't make sense that she would bother
01:26:14
to pay for a trip home if she never intended to take it unconfirmed reports speculated that
01:26:22
elise's body had been partially burned and that a gas can had been found near her remains
01:26:29
police were accused of covering something up to avoid further damaging the island's reputation
01:26:36
under mounting pressure police were forced to reopen the investigation into elise derlemein's death but after
01:26:44
re-examining the evidence they came to the same conclusion that it was an and shut case of suicide
01:26:54
for the families of these young people who lost their lives on ketau the answers given by thai police have been
01:27:00
completely unsatisfactory banning together they formed a support group called grieving together we want
01:27:08
justice christina anisley's father told the samoy times when is the world going to wake up to
01:27:18
the fact mongrels in thailand are getting away with murdering our kids while two innocent burmese face losing
01:27:25
their lives for murders i believe were committed by a thai mafia thug while the thai police stand by and do nothing
01:27:36
the mother of ben harrington the i.t consultant who allegedly died from a motorcycle collision on cattau said
01:27:44
as long as i can breathe i will keep trying to find answers in late june of 2018 an 18 year old
01:27:55
british woman and her male friend were drinking in a bar on siree beach when they suddenly became woozy
01:28:03
they stumbled outside and passed out on the sand when the woman came to her friend was
01:28:09
gone and a stranger was hovering over her but quickly fled realising her underwear had been removed
01:28:17
and her cash and credit cards were missing it dawned on the woman that she'd been drugged robbed and raped
01:28:25
terrified she quickly left qatar and reported the incident to police on neighbouring kopanyang
01:28:32
she even had a t-shirt that potentially contained the perpetrator's dna however the officer allegedly refused to
01:28:40
accept the rape report nor did they offer any kind of medical assistance the woman returned to the uk where her
01:28:50
concerned mother contacted suzanne buchanan a british expat who ran the samoy times online newspaper
01:28:59
suzanne was a vocal supporter of zorlin and waypio and had widely reported on the suspicious deaths and alleged
01:29:06
cover-ups occurring on katau she'd recently moved back to the uk after fearing it was no longer safe
01:29:14
for her to live in thailand suzanne broke the story about the alleged drugging and rape of the 18 year
01:29:22
old and in turn the thai police issued a warrant for her arrest on the grounds that she was publishing false
01:29:28
information and misleading the public twelve other individuals who posted about the rape on social media were also
01:29:37
arrested the case gained the attention of the human rights watch who urged the thai
01:29:45
police to drop the charges and accused them of quote using computer-related crime charges
01:29:52
against anyone who questions their shoddy investigation of the katau island rape case
01:30:00
a spokesperson for the organization said the thai police should recognise their reputation is better served by solving
01:30:09
crimes than prosecuting their critics [Music] zorlin and waypio were transferred to
01:30:18
ban central prison in bangkok which has earned a reputation as one of the harshest penitentiaries in the world
01:30:27
speaking to a journalist for bangkok news site car side english zorlin said that they were being treated well
01:30:34
because other inmates and guards believed in their innocence expressing his gratitude for their
01:30:41
supporters he said i miss home too much sometimes i go crazy why am i here i think about that all the time
01:30:55
in august 2019 thailand's supreme court reviewed their case and upheld the death
01:31:02
sentence marking an end to their appeals process their only remaining hope lay in a royal
01:31:09
pardon in thailand the king's birthday is considered a particularly auspicious occasion and to celebrate royal pardons
01:31:19
are often granted to convicted criminals the following year july 28 2020 was king
01:31:28
wahira long 68th birthday to commemorate the event and illustrate the king's clemency zorlin and waipio's
01:31:37
death sentences were reduced to life imprisonment waypio's brother told reporters
01:31:45
i can't find words to express how thankful we are the truth about what happened to hannah
01:31:55
david and the other tourists on katau is a subject that will likely remain shrouded in mystery and hearsay
01:32:04
speculation about cover-ups and corruption on ketau continues to run rife online which the head of the island
01:32:11
warapan dolwitchien said has ruined his family standing after online sleuths blamed his son
01:32:19
nunsod for the murders and accused his family of concealing the crimes warapan slammed to the media for inaccurate
01:32:26
reporting he called the allegations baseless saying the speculation had left his
01:32:33
family in ruins he told cassod english this is not how things should be imagine if you have a son
01:32:44
you will understand my pain australian lawyer ian yarwood runs a facebook and a youtube account titled
01:32:53
catal death island he believes that as many as 21 foreigners have died under suspicious or
01:33:01
avoidable circumstances on catal since the year 2000 alone he has been sharing the suspicious
01:33:08
deaths and survival stories online to raise awareness remarking both heaven and hell can be found on
01:33:17
catal but the tourism industry only wants people to learn of the bright side days after hannah and david were killed
01:33:27
an article by bbc's southeast asia correspondent jonathan head explored catal's underbelly and questioned
01:33:35
whether thailand is a safe place to visit he concluded for the most part yes but do not be fooled by the smiles and
01:33:45
the glossy posters put out by the tourism authority the reality behind them is an unequal
01:33:52
profit-driven economy much of it illegal and a police force which is shown time and again its incapacity for controlling
01:34:00
crime despite all the negative publicity tourists haven't been deterred from visiting katau which is now considered
01:34:10
one of thailand's most popular destinations westerners are advised to exercise common sense respect the local culture
01:34:19
and avoid walking alone at night just like they would anywhere else in the world
01:34:26
the vast majority of people who go there have an enjoyable memorable holiday and
01:34:31
remain blissfully unaware of the island's dark side but for the families of hannah
01:34:37
witheridge and david miller katau will always be synonymous with death speaking outside the trial of zorlin and
01:34:47
waypio david's brother michael said our lives have been changed forever nothing brings david home
01:34:56
no last hugs no goodbyes but whatever our anguish the love we have for david can never be taken away
01:35:06
our 24 years of memories and his beaming smile will always be cherished weeks after zorlin and waypio's second
01:35:18
appeal was rejected tragedy struck the witheredge family for a second time when hannah's 30 year old sister laura passed
01:35:26
away suddenly from complications related to a rare nerve condition she was nine weeks pregnant at the time
01:35:36
at a subsequent inquest hannah and laura's mother wept as she said you lose one daughter
01:35:44
you don't expect to lose another hannah will always be remembered by her loved ones as an intelligent and loving
01:35:54
young woman who poured joy into the lives of all who knew her speaking of the grief she endured after
01:36:02
the murders hannah's mother said there wasn't a bad bone in hannah's body she achieved so much and had so much
01:36:12
more ahead of her our family is broken and will never be the same again it will never make any sense
01:36:22
the fact that she is not here affects us every day [Music] [Music] you