Parents "grateful" after backpacker killers spared death

Monday 17 August 2020

The parents of a Jersey man murdered in Thailand have expressed their gratitude after his killers’ sentences were downgraded from death, to life in prison, by Royal Decree.

Myanmar migrant workers Zaw Lin and Wai Pho were sentenced to death one year after killing David Miller, and British citizen Hannah Witheridge, on the diving resort island of Koh Tao in September 2014.

A string of unsuccessful appeals against their conviction and sentence followed, culminating in one at the Supreme Court of Thailand.

However, following an admission of guilt by the pair, the King of Thailand intervened, cancelling the penalty by Royal Decree.

Pictured: The island of Koh Tao, where David Miller and Hannah Witheridge had been staying.

Mr Miller’s parents, Ian and Sue, who live in St. Helier, did not support the original sentence. They expressed their relief over the weekend and said they were "grateful" to the King of Thailand.

They explained the killers' admission of guilt and Thai King’s subsequent act of clemency “brings to an end a lengthy and disturbing period where activists on social media made reckless attempts to influence justice in Thailand and public opinion elsewhere.”

“But in the end the truth has been revealed,” Mr Miller's parents said. 

The pair added: “Every moment we miss our son. Our thoughts are also with the Witheridge family and the tragic loss of their daughter.

"We hope that these two murderers will now spend a very very long time in jail where they cannot harm other families and will have time to reflect on the consequences of their acts."

Pictured top: Hannah Witheridge and David Miller.