From ANDREW DRUMMOND,
Bangkok June 13 2011
The sister of a Briton, who was declared drowned in a shallow lake on Koh Samui, has expressed disappointment that a second post mortem has concluded her brother drowned and police will NOT now be continuing with a murder investigation.
Eve Deary, 53, from Waverley, Surrey, said that she still believed there may be prima facie evidence to show her brother Kevin Attew was murdered despite the fact that a second post mortem, this time conducted under the supervision of police at the regional headquarters in Surat Thani, again concluded that he died by drowning.”
“We want to know how Kevin died. At the moment the signals coming back are confusing. But I have been told that is what to expect,” added Mrs. Deary who received the news from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
Kevin Attew on the left with Crispin Paton-Smith and his girlfriend
The second post mortem conducted by Dr. Nantana Jarunet, of Surat Thani Hospital for an investigation conducted by Lt. Colonel Pongkajong Sukasang, says that Kevin Attew had 150 mls of dirty water in his stomach and lungs. It still concluded he drowned.
But unlike the original post mortem conducted in Koh Samui, the second inquest confirmed two ‘impact marks’ on Mr. Attew’s head and five puncture marks on his back, penetrating 3 mm into the skin, and also bruising on his back and neck.
The body of Kevin Attew was found last month in a lake behind Chaweng Resort on Koh Samui in under one foot of water. A suggestion that he committed suicide by drowning seemed improbable in the light of the fact that the Gulf of Thailand was only a few hundred yards away. Besides, say his friends and family, Kevin Attew was content with his life.
Kevin Attew ran the ‘Honey Bar’ in Chaweng and was also the founder of the motorcycle club the ‘Koh Samui Pirates’.
The Surat Thani autopsy/post mortem 1
Said Mrs Deary: ‘We have been in touch with organisations like ‘Missing Abroad’ and ‘Homicide Victims Support Services in Britain and they have been very helpful. But they have warned us we may be in a long fight for the truth and may not even find it at the end of the day. I am now contacting my Member of Parliament Jeremy Hunt,( the current British Minister of Culture, Olympics, Sport and Media) to see is he can press the Foreign Office to get more information as to how Thai police came to this conclusion.”
Kevin Attew had had an interesting life before settling in Koh Samui. He produced a number of films, some of the horror genre, including ‘After Darkness’ starring John Hurt. He even recorded a promotional video rock stars including Joan Armatrading, before going to LA. He is reported to have become disillusioned with Hollywood and decided to settle in Thailand.
‘He had had a very interesting life and he seemed to have found perfect contentment in Thailand,’ added Mrs Deary.
‘If he ever had a set-back and would bounce back again as cheerful as ever. He brought out the best in people and was very popular. He is the last person in the world who would have committed suicide and it is hard to see him having any enemies.’
Police had interviewed his Thai partner Aeae Sumpootong, 37, (right) but are understood to have learned nothing to progress the investigation further.
Crispin Paton-Smith, his best friend and a fellow biker said: ‘I have been re-assured on a daily basis that the murder investigation is going on. This does not make sense. The post mortem reveals Kevin’s other injuries, I still do not know why doctors came to the same conclusion that Kevin drowned.
“I do not believe for a second Kevin committed suicide or fell accidentally into a very shallow lake and drowned himself beating himself up in the process”.
Pictures seen here in Bangkok show several wounds to Kevin Attew’s head.
COMMENT
The Thai post mortem conclusion below appears to be open to several interpretations. 150 mls of dirty water is not a lot. But the report does not say how much water was found in the first examination. There may be another explanation for the marks other than murder but no explanation is offered. Probably persons in the UK may be shocked at the apparent lack of detail or length but this is similar in format and in length to many post mortems I have seen in Thailand. Despite the marks the pathologists have come to the conclusion that it was his insertion in the water that killed him. The family will be seeking expert advice in Britain.
The Surat Thani Autopsy/Post Mortem 2
Andrew, could you kindly provide Kevins's sister Eva Deary with my email address. Hopefully the body has not been cremated which is the norm for Thailand in most tourist related deaths. there are many similarities here to another Death ruled as a drwoning when photos retrieved showed multiple injuries not reported.
When I read this story, I am immediately inquisitive! I would like to see a photo of this shallow water. In less than a foot of water.
The report above delivers the facts, and concludes that Kevin drowned – in other words, the 150ml of brownish black water in his stomach and lungs was the cause of death. The report mentions some of the injuries to his head and back, but does not speculate as to what may have caused them. To conclude from this report that the investigation into his death is perhaps jumping the gun.
Robin: The family have been notified by the Foreign Office in the UK that there will be no murder investigation. That says the FCO comes from Thai police.
I think the mystery is how did he end up with apparent injuries in he lake in the first place.
I am no expert nor a conspiracy theorist and am not disputing the report, just highlighting the unexplained.
If they took water out of his lungs the first time….how did the 150ml get back in there ? Is the gf a person of confused gender ?
I find this autopsy report's lack of detail very disturbing and bordering on incompetence, specifically the lack of description of the wounds –
What was the shape of the impact wounds? What was there force and what amount of damage did they cause? Were they consistent with the end of an implement such as a hammer pein or a pistol butt? Or, were they linear and consistent with a bar or heavy stick (or truncheon)?
The nature of the five puncture marks are not detailed, nor their distribution – were they grouped or scattered? At 3mm depth, it is about the same as the writing tip of a retractable ball-point pen, possibly similar to the tip of the types of darts from an air rifle – either of which would cause a small bruise or welt around the puncture due to the impact force, but no mention is made of such accompanying trauma. Neither is a mention made of the shape, location, or angle of the punctures. There seems to be no indication whether the punctures could have come from, or were consistent with, the victim falling on his back whilst wearing a studded bike jacket or waistcoat and receiving punctures from the back of those studs.
Whilst the second autopsy has provided more detail than the first, it is sloppy, incomplete, and raises more questions than it answers.
In my opinion, the examiner and attendant police need investigated for failing to do the job correctly, and the deceased's remains should be surrendered to western professionals for a thorough and complete examination.
My empathy and condolences go out to family and friends, yet I fear this will be just one more whitewashed death of a farang under suspicious circumstances, in the interests of protecting Thailand's reputation in the tourism industry.
yet I fear this will be just one more whitewashed death of a farang under suspicious circumstances, in the interests of protecting Thailand's reputation in the tourism industry
given the amount of involvement by uk police in the kirsty jones murder many years ago and the frustrations that the uk police experienced, what is the uk embassy view on there being so many of these suspicious deaths?
i know they don't want to cause offence
Perhaps some are confusing the role of the pathologist. His function is to examine the body and to establish cause of death. In this case he has concluded that death was caused by inhalation of water found in the lungs.In the course of the examination he noted presence of wounds but given his conclusion he did not think they contributed to the cause of death.He has done his job.
However, given the crime scene, witness testimony as to state of mind and the presence of the wounds to the back of the victim I should think there was ample scope to treat the death as suspicious and investigate accordingly. The obvious theory is of course that the man was held face down in the swamp and suffocated to death.
This is Thailand though and if a convenient solution to a problem can be found then so be it. The embassy of course will be rubbish unless stung into action by the deceased's family, their MP or possibly a decent piece from Drummond. Unfortunately, deaths in Thailand are two a penny and many fail to find justice.
Westerby: Meanwhile I shall continue with the indecent stuff.
No seriously there are several problems here.
1. WYSIWYG. He has been found floating in a lake and looks like he has drowned. That is the easiest option.
2. No real incentive to investigate the murder of a foreigner.
3. Prime suspect has issued outright denial and may not have been involved in the incident anyway.
4. Nobody is pushing, so its up to his friends.
5. Not good for tourism. The attitude prevails that no publicity is best on incidents like this, or that it is a foreigner who has done this to himself, or another foreigner.