We can see what Aldhouse looks like, what does his girlfriend look like, who may or may not be helping him? I believe the Americans would like to help justice served..after all help has been sent by them...and not one word about the UK's assistance...why is that?

Posted by Anonymous on August 17, 2010 14:43

Why does Thailand still accept tourists to Thailand ? Did PhuketWan inform this police about what 'responsibility' means ?

'We want your money, but we don't want to take responsibility' That is what i'm reading. I'll remember his words until he will eat them when a swedish newspaper shows up and ask where we should do with all the Thai sitting in Swedish jail cost ~ 25.000b/day.

Posted by Anders on August 17, 2010 14:59

[quote]Based on his experience at Immigration, the colonel said that not enough countries supplied holiday destinations like Phuket with blacklists of their own criminals[/quote]

That's all we need - an immigration officer turner BiB. God help us.

AND, this officer thinks Aldhouse would be on a British "blacklist of criminals". Where do they get these blokes from?

Posted by Mike Boyd on August 17, 2010 18:44

I know that there are many citizens of a certain Asian country ( not Thailand ) in UK jails, for growing cannabis in the UK. They also mostly needed interpreters throughout the legal process. This has reduced now, due to better police detection putting them off, I believe, but it must still be costly for the UK!

Posted by John on August 17, 2010 18:49

Sandra Gregory was sentenced to 25 years in jail for smuggling a small amount of heroin out of Thailand ( for someone else ). She transferred to a UK jail after 4 years, where she would have remained, at UK taxpayer's expense, for the remainder of her sentence. She was only released after a pardon from the King of Thailand. The sentence for her crime would have been much lower in England, yet the UK was paying for her time in the UK jail.

Posted by John on August 17, 2010 20:57

Surely, it is immigration who is responsible for the tourists/expats who come here. If they want to make it more difficult for the criminals to get in, they can always ask for a police record like they do when you want to teach in a school.

Posted by Tbs on August 17, 2010 21:55

This murder had absolutely nothing to do with Muay Thai

'Many muay thai camps have sprung up in the Rawai-Chalong district over the past few years, and local expats fear some of them are encouraging uncontrolled aggression.'

Really? Can you find any other examples of the 5000+ Muay Thai students who come here every year being involved in violent incidents?

Anyone who thinks Muay Thai camps encourage uncontrolled aggression has obviously never been to a Muay Thai camp or a Muay thai show.

I believe Phuket Wan also earlier stated that the argument began due to an argument over Muay Thai which is something none of the eye witnesses i spoke to corroborated.

If anything I think Muay Thai discourages aggression.

If local ex pats really think this surely you could have found one that would go on the record about it?

The fact that the two men had trained in Muay Thai appears at this point to be entirely coincidental. Can I suggest that you go and spent time in one of the many excellent Muay Thai camps in Phuket and you will soon realise that Muay Thai in no way encourages aggression.

Posted by James Goyder on August 17, 2010 23:26

You'll have to excuse me, because I profess my ignorance in these matters.

But don't the United States - for example - have access to to the criminal records of people who apply for a visa to visit there from the UK. (I assume that rather than having access to the UK database, the request comes in from the US authorities and the UK authorities tell them whether the would-be traveller has any convictions and what they are). AFAIK, you can't get into the US with a criminal record, or in American terms, conviction for a felony.

If the US can have this system/arrangement, why can't Thailand? I suspect that Thai authorities don't want to bar too many tourists - without being fascetious, there are probably hundreds of thousands of travellers to LOS who've blotted their copy books.

But surely an arrangement can be set up where every application for entry to Thailand is met with a request from Thai immigration to the applicant's government as to whether they have been convicted of violent crime or drug offences.

People like Aldhouse shouldn't be allowed to export their brand of violence and stupidity abroad.

Posted by Doug on August 18, 2010 01:30

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38724287/ns/world_news-asiapacific

Picture for viewing if allowed to post.

It's a bit clearer picture and you can see tattoos as well.

Posted by Anders on August 18, 2010 01:38

Back on the subject of who pays for jail time, the colonel should be aware that the UK has a prisoner transfer agreement with Thailand:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/publications-and-documents/treaties/treaty-texts/prisoner-transfer-agreements

Posted by John on August 18, 2010 17:54