PSNI has no role in hunt for Thailand murder suspect
THE PSNI is not involved in the hunt for a Co Fermanagh man wanted in Thailand over the murder of a prostitute.
Neil Henry Elliott, who is believed to be staying in Co Cavan, is suspected of planning to flee the country from Dublin Airport.
Despite reports earlier this week of a cross-border hunt for the 48-year-old, PSNI sources indicated they had not been contacted by any foreign authorities in relation to the matter.
Thai authorities want to rearrest Elliott for the murder of a prostitute in the city of Pattaya on April 29.
The suspect has links to border counties including Louth, Monaghan and Cavan.
Thai police said the dead sex worker, named Onn, was picked up in the red light district.
They added she had been attacked with a “snooker cue until it snapped” and then murdered “with a machete in a drug-fuelled sex session”.
Police colonel Chiddecha Songhong, from the Bang Lamung district station, said the slain woman was aged between 35 and 40.
Elliott is alleged to have visited a number of closed bars before returning to his rented bungalow with the woman.
Thai police said the murder victim was found in the bathroom of the property with stab wounds to her neck and her right wrist.
Police officers said they encountered Elliott on a nearby street after he left the bungalow and crashed a motorcycle.
He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of murder.
It was reported that he was handcuffed and driven to a police station for questioning in a pick-up truck.
Senior sources said it was not known how or when Elliott had fled Thailand, but he relocated to Enniskillen before apparently moving across the border.
He is due in court in Thailand on September 29.
It was previously reported that a large Northern Ireland flag was observed hanging at the entrance to Elliott’s single-storey property in Pattaya.
He is said to have admitted binging on the powerful drug yaba — a mixture of speed and caffeine — before beating Onn to death and slashing her with a machete.
It is understood that Elliott claimed that he acted in selfdefence.
He is said to have instructed his lawyer to pursue a defence of diminished responsibility due to the level of drugs in his system.