LIAM COLVEN from the Isle of Skye in Scotland has been identified as the shooting range victim. A taxi driver who reportedly picked up the tourist said he heard him arguing with someone on the phone en route to the shooting range.


PHUKET: A young British man killed himself using a handgun at a shooting range on Phuket this afternoon.

Dramatic video shows his final moments, with a staffer who was watching him shoot reacting to the man's decision to put a bullet into his own head.

Another staffer at the Thalang shooting range, not far from Phuket International Airport, told Phuketwan: ''He came by a taxi. He bought a ticket for shooting a 11mm handgun and then shot himself in the head.''

The young man was aged 21. He bought one magazine and fired six shots, then began firing a second magazine. He used just one bullet from the second package, the staffer said.

Phuket police believe the man, who arrived yesterday, probably came to the holiday island with the intention of killing himself.

He called a taxi from the taxi rank outside the Sun Wing Resort in Bang Tao to take him to the shooting range about 2pm. He was dressed in shorts and not wearing a shirt at the time of the shooting.

The man was the only shooter on the range at the time. He had told the taxi driver he wanted to shoot, and that the Thalang range was the place he wanted to go.

The taxi driver was waiting outside.

Phuketwan has been supplied with his name but will not release it until relatives have been informed.

British envoys are being told what took place. Many local consuls and envoys have become increasingly concerned at the number of suicides among expats and tourists visiting the island.