British yacht skipper Malcolm Robertson, pictured here with his wife Linda, was killed when a robbery went wrong, as he was sailing off the coast of Thailand. Photograph: Family Handout/PA
Police investigating the murder of a British yachtsman who was attacked and thrown into the sea off Thailand's southern coast after trying to stop the theft of a dinghy from his boat have arrested three Burmese fishermen.
Malcolm Robertson and his wife, Linda, were aboard their yacht, the Mr Bean, near the island of Koh Dong about 45 miles west of Satun province when it was boarded on Monday.
Thai police said the 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.
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 whilst 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."
She added: "Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time. We are urgently pursuing this case with local police who are investigating the incident."
The retired couple, from Eastbourne in Sussex, had been sailing their 44ft
(13 metre) yacht from Phuket, where it was berthed, to the Malaysian duty-free island of Langkawi.
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