Four Borneo men face death penalty over murder of British medical students

Four Malaysian men are facing the death penalty after admitting to killing two British medical students in Borneo. Neil Dalton and Aidan Brunger, both 22, were stabbed to death after arguing with a group in a bar in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak state. Chai Khin Chung, the area’s deputy police chief, said four men, aged between 19 and 30, have confessed to the killings. He said the two Newcastle University students had been drinking and began arguing loudly in a bar when the suspects confronted them and told them to be quiet.

This has come as a huge shock to us all and our thoughts are with their families and friends at this very difficult time.

Tony Stevenson, Newcastle University’s vice-chancellor

"Then one of the British students slapped one of the locals, turned over a table and walked out," he said. The four men followed them in a car and one of them stabbed them with a knife. The bodies of the students were found lying a few metres apart in a road near the bar. The pair were on a six-week placement in a hospital in Kuching as part of their studies, said Newcastle University’s Vice-Chancellor Tony Stevenson.

World borneo students