Thai king scraps death penalty for killers of British backpackers
The killers of British packpackers David Miller and Hannah Witherage will instead serve life in prison.
Two men on death row for killing two British backpackers in Thailand have had their sentences reduced to life imprisonment after a royal pardon.
David Miller, 24, from Jersey, and Hannah Witherage, 23, from Norfolk, were found dead on the popular tourist island of Koh Tao in 2014.
Two Burmese workers, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, were convicted and sentenced to death in 2015.
However, the pair’s lawyer said their death sentences would be commuted to life imprisonment after being issued a royal pardon decree.
Nakhon Compuchat said: ‘The two are eligible under a section in the royal pardon decree to get their death sentences reduced to life imprisonment.
‘They will also have a chance to get their sentences reduced further on good behaviour.’
The decree published yesterday said the royal pardons were granted to commemorate the monarch’s birthday on July 28 to ‘illustrate the king’s clemency’.
Mr Miller and Ms Witherage were found bludgeoned to death on a beach.
A post-mortem revealed Ms Witherage had also been raped.
The men’s convictions were mired in controversy after friends of the pair claimed they were framed and confessed under duress.
Police were also accused of rushing to solve a crime that attracted international headlines, threatening the reputation of the multibillion-pound Thai tourism industry.
International scientists also criticised the DNA investigation as incompetent with no chain of evidence.
However, the death penalty was twice upheld by an appeals court in 2017 and the Supreme Court in 2019, meaning the royal pardon was the pair’s last hope.
It is not known how many other prisoners have been granted clemency by the king.
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