Thai police have arrested three migrant Burmese workers after a British yacht skipper was allegedly murdered by having his throat slit and being thrown overboard, according to media reports.
Thai police believe pirates slit 64-year-old Malcolm Robertson’s throat and tied up his wife Linda, 57, when they raided their yacht near Koh Dong, an island about 73km (45 miles) off southern Thailand’s Andaman sea coast, the British Press Association reported. Mrs Robertson’s brother, John Clee, told PA that she had feared for her life while tied up in the yacht’s cabin for more than 10 hours. However, she managed to free herself and call for help when the attackers fled — apparently after they saw Thai national park employees passing in another boat. Clee said his sister was now being interviewed by Thai authorities. “They haven’t found a body yet. That is our greatest fear — that they do not find his body. We have our fingers crossed,” he told PA.
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Police Captain Suparak Pongkarnjana told PA the pirates fled on a raft but they were arrested soon after and had confessed. Mr Robertson owned a chain of coffee shops in and around his home town of Hastings, East Sussex, but his children now run the business and he was semi-retired, PA reported. The couple, who had been married for 25 years, each had two children from previous relationships, and had seven grandchildren between them. The children had flown to Thailand to support Mrs Robertson, PA reported.
