PHUKET police are pursuing this bearded expat, the prime suspect in the murder of a woman whose naked, stabbed body was dumped in a travel bag by a roadside.

The drawing of the man, above, has been compiled by a police artist on the basis of information provided by people who saw the man at a Kata-Karon bar.

The woman, now identified as Wanpen Pianchai, 35, was last seen alive early on June 18 at the Sweethearts Bar, on the road behind the Club Med Resort. She had been working in the bar as a waitress and hostess for three months.

Police said they have been told that at 7am on June 18, the bearded man came to the bar for beer and breakfast. About 9am he asked Khun Wanpen to go back on his motorcycle to his home in Phuket City for sex, a senior Phuket City police officer told Phuketwan today.

The investigating officer, Lieutenant Colonel Sompong Santatiwong, said there were few clues to the man's identity, but he did not eat pork for breakfast. Staff at the bar did not note the man's motorcycle number because there seemed to be nothing unusual.

Khun Wanpen's naked body was found in a blue pull-along travel bag on June 24, six days after she was last seen alive. The bag had been dumped beside Chao Fa Tadmai, the road that leads between Chao Fa Road West and the rear of Prince of Songkla University.

Khun Wanpen had been stabbed in the neck and chest. She was naked but wore a ring on the second finger of her left hand.

A daughter has come from Petchaboon province, north of Bangkok, to arrange the return of Khun Wanpen's remains. Her body is at Vachira Hospital in Phuket City.

People with information about the man above should call 191, Lieutenant Colonel Sompong said today.