THAI BACKPACK HORROR TWIST ‘We didn’t commit the murders in paradise’
FAMILIES’ NEW AGONY 10 YEARS ON AS ACCUSED DEMAND RETRIAL
THE families of two backpackers bludgeoned to death on Thailand’s “Death Island” are facing fresh agony after their killers demanded a review of the case.
Burmese bar workers Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun, both 29, were sentenced to death for the 2014 slaying of British tourists David Miller (24) and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge (23).
Now prison letters obtained by The Star show the pair still maintain their innocence – 10 years after the brutal murders on paradise island of Koh Tao.
In one letter to his legal team, Zaw Lin wrote: “I have been in prison [ for] almost 10 years for nothing, it’s unbelievable I passed the time.
“Could you please retrial again my case? I’ve never seen the people who died on the beach at Koh Tao.”
The killers have always said they were fitted up and accused Thai detectives of carrying out a “botched” probe.
And the pair – who had their death sentences commuted in 2020 – claim they are eligible for amnesty and said they should be freed from their “hell”.
The Star can reveal they have been visited by a delegation of solicitors in prison, including a British justice campaigner, who are fighting for their release.
Misery
It will heap fresh agony on Hannah and David’s family who have suffered a decade of misery over the murders.
David’s family have previously criticised online activists supporting the killers who had tried to influence public opinion and justice in Thailand.
But in a horde of prison letters sent from Thailand’s notorious Bang Kwang jail – known ironically as the Bangkok Hilton – Zaw Lin said: “I want to get out as I am innocent.”
In another letter he added: “They should set me free now. I am sad to think I wasted my young life in prison for nothing.”
Hannah and David were last seen at the AC Bar with friends before they left together after 1am on September 15, 2014.
Their bodies were discovered on Sairee Beach a few hours later at around 4.30am.
Zaw Lin and Zaw Tun were arrested and initially confessed to the murders but retracted their statements saying they had been tortured.
Prosecutors said DNA evidence from cigarette butts linked them to the killings of David, from Jersey, and Hannah, from Norfolk.
However, their trial in Koh Samui heard a garden hoe believed to have been used to beat the backpackers carried the
DNA of two different men.
Campaigners believe they were set-up by Thai authorities who were desperate to preserve the country’s “paradise” image for tourists.
In a letter from prison, Zaw Lin claimed forensic evidence linking him to the garden hoe used in the murder was flawed.
He said: “The DNA they found out is probably from cigarettes and not from the death bodies. “They didn’t actually have any other concrete evidence to convict and give me [the] death sentence.”
The Burmese migrants were convicted and told they would be executed by lethal injection in 2015.
But their death penalties were commuted in 2020 thanks to a royal pardon and they were told they would serve a life sentence instead.
David’s family thanked the Thai authorities for sparing their lives, but said they hoped Zaw Lin and Zaw Tun would spend a “very, very long time in jail”.
But in broken English – which he has learned in jail – Zaw Lin has now said: “Amnesty is for all who stay with good behaviour in prison... although we are eligible and cannot receive it.”
Evidence
Hannah and David’s family travelled to Thailand for the trial in 2015 and were forced to witness harrowing evidence about the murders.
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun – also known as Wai Phyo – were eventually convicted and sentenced to death, before it was commuted to a life sentence in 2020.
In January, the pair’s legal team contacted Thai authorities to demand “clarity” on efforts to have their sentences reduced – but they were told the release dates would not be changed.
Campaigners say the pair should be acquitted because the crime scene was contaminated and the forensic methodology was “flawed”.
Andy Hall, international affairs advisor for their legal defence team, said they were continuing to monitor their welfare.
He confirmed lawyers and translators recently visited the pair in jail to “respond to their requests for clarity in their sentence reduction”.