British backpacker murders confession was freely given, claims lawyer

One of the Burmese men accused of raping and killing British backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller freely admitted his guilt to police officers, according to a Thai solicitor who was asked to observe the interrogation. Lawyer Pittaya Yaipetch told the court that migrant worker Zaw Lin admitted following and attacking the British couple on a beach on the Thai island of Koh Tao in the early hours of 15 September last year, along with his co-accused, Wei Phyo. "The suspect told the investigating police officer that he was with the co-accused on the beach at about 3am when the victims walked past them. He said they went to a place further along the beach and started kissing,“ said Mr Yaipetch.

Zaw Lin told the police that he hit Ms Witheridge in the face with the garden hoe when she began to regain consciousness during the sexual assault, before raping her himself.

Lawyer Pittaya Yaipetch

Zaw Lin and his co-accused then jumped the kissing couple. The solicitor said Zaw Lin confessed to hitting Miss Witheridge a second time with the hoe "so she could not survive and identify us”. The pair were arrested separately two weeks later, and although they told reporters, during a public reenactment at the crime scene, that they were responsible for the rape and killings, and said they were sorry, they later retracted those statements and said they had been threatened by police to confess. Lin and Phyo told their lawyers that police officers threatened to pour petrol on them and burn them, chop off their limbs, put them in plastic bags and dump them at sea if they did not confess. Miss Witheridge, 23, is from Norfolk and 24-year-old Mr Miller from Jersey.

backpacker Asia-Pacific