Killers of Brit tourists avoid death penalty

Two migrant workers from Myanmar convicted over the 2014 killings of two young British tourists on a Thai holiday island have had their death sentences reduced to life imprisonment.

Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were among many convicts in Thai prisons whose sentences were reduced under a clemency decree issued by King Maha Vajiralongkorn to mark his 68th birthday on July 28, their lawyer, Nadthasiri Bergman, confirmed.

The two denied killing 24-year-old David Miller and raping and killing 23-year-old Hannah Witheridge, whose battered bodies were found on a beach on the island of Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, a popular diving destination.

The case caused controversy because of allegations that police mishandled evidence and beat the suspects into making confessions. Forensics experts said DNA evidence did not link them to the scene, and Human Rights Watch called the guilty verdict “profoundly disturbing”.