Phuketwan Latest
The body of Mr Bean skipper Malcolm Robertson has been found, local officials have confirmed, giving his family a sense of relief.''We know that charges of murder can now be laid against those responsible,'' the BBC quoted one family member as saying.
Earlier Report
THE three young Burmese who confessed to killing British sailor Malcolm Robertson may escape a murder charge unless his body is found.
The officer leading investigations in the Satun case told Phuketwan today that pursing a murder case would be difficult.
A body that probably was that of 64-year-old Mr Robertson was sighted by fishermen on a trawler on Friday but they had to keep sailing and by the time Marine Police reached the spot, the body had been swept away.
Mrs Linda Robertson, 57, who fled the invaders and survived, told the BBC she believed her husband's decision to stand up to the three youths may have cost him his life.
''He was not the sort of man that would just sit back and let things happen. I wish really that he had been,'' she said.
Deputy Superintendent (Investigation and Inquiry), Lieutenant Colonel Niphon Hemsala-Mud, of La-ngu police station said that the search for the body was continuing.
''We need to find the body first and then have an autopsy before we can lay murder charges,'' he said.
''I can't believe the decision by prosecutors,'' Mrs Robertson said in a report on sail-world.com.. ''I am in a state of total disbelief.
''These young men were almost caught red-handed. They confessed to everything. The police even have the bloodstained murder weapon.
''Yet there is no murder charge, not even a manslaughter charge. It's incredible.''
Mrs Robertson has spoken of the kindness of the youngest of the three teenage attackers.
She returned to Mr Bean for the first time at the weekend for a memorial service with the couple's four adult children, who had flown from Britain to comfort her.
Phuket was the couple's last home for several weeks before they sailed south to leave the yacht in Malaysia before flying back to Britain.
Yachting friends from Phuket have also joined Mrs Robertson in Satun.
The three Burmese have so far only been charged with theft, assault and kidnap.
'Pirate' Killing Dismays Phuket Yachties
Latest The murder by invaders of a British yachtsman and his wife's narrow escape has horrified the Phuket sailing community, where the couple were last docked before the incident.
'Pirate' Killing Dismays Phuket Yachties
