Backpacker, 26 hanged herself after ‘silly row’
A BRITISH woman has been found hanged in an apartment in Thailand after having an argument with her boyfriend.
Abigail Brown, 26, had been ‘fighting about silly things’ with James Brum in the early hours of the morning.
The backpacker returned with- out him to the apartment they shared in the seaside resort of Phuket. When Mr Brum got back there three hours later, at 6.20am last Saturday, he found her body.
Thai police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Miss Brown’s death and nothing to indicate she had been assaulted. They are treat- ing her death as suicide. The cause of the couple’s argument is not known.
Miss Brown, from Waterlooville, Hampshire, recently trained at a martial arts camp near the apartment she shared with Mr Brum, 30, a professional martial arts fighter.
She had been living in Thailand since August. Her body is due to be repatriated today. Miss Brown regularly posted updates on social media in Mr Brum’s company and had referred to him more than once as ‘the hubby’.
She had joked with friends online that she was ‘still working’ on their engagement.
Last night tributes were paid to Miss Brown – known to friends as Abi Rowland after her mother Jane remarried. In a post on social media, her half- brother Will Rowland said: ‘I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better older sister. She always excelled in everything and kept me and everyone around her so, so proud.
‘Words can’t describe how much she will be missed and how much she meant to us all. I have lost a big part of my life. Abi was honestly one of a kind – still can’t believe it.’
Miss Brown and Mr Brum are understood to have spent the earlier part of the evening of her death watching a film together. Police said she returned to their room at 3.20am after the argument.
When Mr Brum got there he found her body and attempted to resuscitate her.
Despite further attempts by medics to revive Miss Brown, she was pronounced dead at the scene and her body transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital for a post- mortem examination.
Lieutenant Somkiet Sarasit said: ‘ The autopsy report states that there were no traces of assault on her body.
‘The only injuries found were around her neck and that these coincide with her being hanged. The young woman hanged herself. There was no fighting and no cuts to her body.
‘The man said that they had been out together. They had an argument and she returned early. They had been fighting about silly things. It was suicide and we’re not looking for any suspects.’
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a Samaritans branch or go to samaritans.org.