British yacht skipper Malcolm Robertson, pictured with his wife Linda, was killed by robbers as he was sailing off the coast of Thailand. Photograph: Family Handout/PA
The family of a British yachtsman who was killed off the coast of Thailand are flying to the country today to comfort his widow.
Malcolm Robertson and his wife, Linda, were aboard their yacht, the Mr Bean, near the island of Koh Dong off the southern coast on Monday when an attempt was made to steal a dinghy from the boat.
Thai police said three Burmese migrant workers had confessed to killing the 64-year-old after he caught them climbing on to the moored yacht. A police spokesman said the men had cut his throat as he tried to shout for help and then thrown him overboard.
Police colonel Virat Ohn-song said: "We believe from our interview with his wife that Mr Robertson was dead before he was thrown into the water."
Although police and the Thai navy sent out search vessels to scour the sea, Robertson's body has not been found and the search was called off late on Monday.
His wife escaped with minor injuries after the attackers fled when another boat approached.
Linda Robertson, who is recovering in a Thai hospital, is reported to have said: "They wanted the dinghy and started hitting Malc about the head."
She was photographed being brought back to dry land, with Thai officials assisting her as she stepped off the boat. Robertson and his wife each had two children from previous relationships, who are travelling to Thailand to comfort Mrs Robertson.
Her brother, John Clee, said she had been tied up and held hostage in the yacht's cabin for up to 10 hours. She feared she would be killed but the three men fled, leaving her injured but alive.
He said: "She's got swollen arms and legs because she was tied up for eight to 10 hours in the cabin. She didn't know what was happening to Malcolm, she was kept locked up."
Clee, who spoke to his sister yesterday, said the robbers took her up to the deck from time to time when they needed her help to sail the yacht. She realised her husband was probably dead when she saw there was blood all over the deck and she feared she too would be killed.
As morning came, she heard the men leaving and struggled free from the ropes that bound her, before rushing up to the deck and calling to a nearby fishing boat for help. "She was shouting and screaming at them," he said.
Clee said Thai police caught up with the robbers quickly as they had not managed to get far on a raft, and his sister was then escorted back to land by the officers with the three men also on board. He said of the robbery: "It was such a stupid, pathetic thing, because they were just trying to pinch a few credit cards and computer things."
He said his sister and her husband were qualified yacht masters who had sailed round the world. He said Robertson, the owner of a chain of coffee shops in and around his home town of Hastings, East Sussex, was fulfilling a life-long dream by spending the winter months sailing around warmer climes in his 44ft (13 metre) yacht with his wife. The couple had been sailing from Phuket, where it was berthed, to the Malaysian duty-free island of Langkawi.
Clee, from Battle, East Sussex, said his brother-in-law was a very popular and knowledgeable man, with a strong personality. He and his wife had seven grandchildren between them. Clee said all four children were on their way to Thailand to offer their support to his sister.
Police who arrested the three men on suspicion of murder in Satun said the only apparent motive for the attack was to steal the yacht's dinghy.
Colonel Voradee Karawanont, of Satun police, said: "We got a report from a fishing boat as the tragedy happened offshore. We tried our best to help but the murderers were not locals; they were from outside.
"We think, in the future, we will have more measures to make sure nothing like this happens again."
The Foreign Office said it was "urgently pursuing the case" with Thai police. A spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that a British couple were attacked while sailing off the coast of Satun, southern Thailand. Our consular team in Bangkok are in touch with the next of kin and are providing consular assistance.
"Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time. We are urgently pursuing this case with local police who are investigating the incident."
0 comments:
Post a Comment