Kirsty Jones

The full names of most of the people featured in this episode are in the public domain. In the majority of cases I have decided to use first names only. This is not to imply suspicion or guilt but to maintain privacy for them and their families. 

I always attempt to look up pronunciations of names and places when covering a case from overseas.  For this episode I found it very difficult to find examples online for some of the Thai names. I've done the best I can based on what information I was able to source.

From the age of 14, Kirsty Sarah Jones dreamed of travelling the world. Brought up on a beef and sheep farm in Tredomen near Brecon, mid Wales, the adventure loving and curious Kirsty embarked on her first overseas expedition in 1996. After the completion of her A-levels at age 18, Kirsty went backpacking around Australia. On her journey home she briefly visited Thailand in southeast Asia. Kirsty enjoyed her experience so much in “The land of smiles'' that she vowed to return one day to explore more of the country.

In the summer of 1999, Kirsty graduated from Liverpool University with a degree in English and Media. She spent the best part of the following year working several jobs in order to save for her next big overseas trip. Kirsty planned on spending two years on a world wide excursion which was to take in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and finally South America. Her family, which consisted of mum Sue, Dad Glyn and a brother were obviously going to miss her but with the use of email and internet cafés keeping in touch was now easier than ever. Kirsty's family were confident that she had more than enough experience and common sense to cope with the trials of travelling alone.

In May 2000 Kirsty, now 23, set off on her global trip, first visiting Singapore and then Malaysia. Three months later on August 4th she flew to Bangkok, Thailand for the next stage of her journey. From the capital, Kirsty travelled 700 km north to the city of Chiang Mai. With a population of over a million people the city is the largest in the region and used by tourists as a trekking base to explore the surrounding hills and jungle terrain.

Kirsty checked into the Aree Guesthouse on Mon Muang Road. This was a basic backpackers hostel which cost 60 Baht a night, the equivalent of £1. The venue was run by a 32 year old ex-pat named Andrew, abbreviated to Andy. Andy was born in Lewisham, London and came from a wealthy family. He’d spent some time in Northern Ireland and had also owned property in Andorra. His father still lived in that small mountainous landlocked country which borders Spain and France. Andy had been in Thailand off and on for about 12 years. At one point he had married a Thai woman named Mam but the couple were now divorced.

The guesthouse also had a diminutive 47 year old Thai manager, Surin. Surin was a former monk and had a reputation for attempting to chat up women while he was out and about in Chiang Mai. In Thailand, foreigners are not allowed to own land so although I believe Andy had technically bought and owned the property, Surin was involved in order to legitimise the business. From the first floor of the building, above the backpackers accommodation, Surin ran a Thai massage school. 

The reputation of the Aree Guest House was that it was a place where one could procure drugs. The establishment had actually been forced to close for 6 months in 1999 after a guest died of a heroin overdose. 

There were certainly more upmarket guesthouses in Chiang Mai. Generally, living expenses were a fraction of those in the UK and for £2 or £3 a night you could get a room with a nice view, plus food and drinks included. It is not clear why Kirsty chose this particular hostel. It might simply have been to save some money. After all, Kirsty was planning on spending most of her time out and about, taking in the sights and sounds rather than staying inside.

Shortly after arriving in Chiang Mai, Kirsty went on a three day guided mountain hike where she met a fellow backpacker from the UK, named Sarah. Kirsty also made friends with a 27 year old Australian man named Nathan who was staying at the Aree Guesthouse. Nathan was on his way to visit relatives in the UK who he had never seen before, and had stopped off in Thailand on the way. The three young people became friendly and spent time together hanging out at a Thai bakery and local Irish themed pub. 

On the evening of August 9th Kirsty, Sarah and Nathan went out for dinner together at a Thai restaurant. Kirsty was wearing a pink top with a long flowery navy blue sarong. After they had finished eating Nathan left the two women to find a phone to call his girlfriend who lived in Spain. Kirsty and Sarah went for a walk around the Chiang Mai night bazaar to browse the rows of craft and jewellery stalls. This location is about a 25 minute walk from the Aree Guesthouse.

At 11.30pm Sarah felt tired and wandered back to her accommodation. Kirsty stayed out a little longer as she wanted to find presents to send home to her family. At some point over the next hour and a half Kirsty arrived back at the Aree Guesthouse. There is some speculation that she may have taken a tuk tuk (a three wheeled motorised taxi) but the consensus seems to be that she completed her journey on foot.

At 1.00am, now on August 10th, several people heard a commotion coming from Kirsty's room. The Thai manager Surin along with a guest, British backpacker Stephen, were both awake in their respective rooms and decided to go and investigate. Stephen said he heard Kirsty scream “get off me, get off me, leave me alone, leave me alone”.

Both men were outside Kirsty's room and Surin put his ear against the door. All was now quiet. With this in mind Surin was reluctant to go inside. He feared disrupting Kirsty’s privacy. By this time several other guests had gathered outside the room to see what was going on. They were all told by Surin to go back to bed. Stephen agreed with the decision not to enter the room and put the disturbance down to a “lovers tiff”. The assembled group slowly returned to their rooms, turned off their lights and fell asleep.

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About 20 hours after the disturbance in Kirsty's room, at 9pm on August 10th, the Aree Guest House was a hive of activity. Around 20 people were piled into Kirsty’s small room, including Royal Thai Police (RTP) officers and local journalists and photographers. Kirsty’s body lay on the bed in full view. Her face was being manipulated by police officers. Turned this way and that to accommodate the requests of photographers trying to achieve the desired angle. Kirsty’s personal possessions were being rifled through by members of the press. A packet of condoms was taken out of a toiletry bag, followed by judgemental tutting from some of the men in the room. This was the first evidence of the victim blaming attitude that would hang over the early stages of the police investigation. 

A 2001 Channel 4 TV documentary “Murder in Paradise'' discovered that a pathologist was not brought to the scene but instead Kirsty's body was driven around for considerable time before one could be found. Another example of how slack things were in the early stages of the investigation. 

The story being presented was that between 4.00 and 4.30pm on August 10th the guesthouse maid had entered Kirsty’s room to complete her cleaning duties and found the body on the bed. The body was partially clothed and lying face down. The blue sarong that Kirsty had been wearing as a skirt was tied tightly around her neck. She had been strangled to death. It was obvious a sexual assault had also taken place.

As was common in Thailand, local press were carrying police scanners in order to get wind of crimes so they could be the first at the scene. The first journalists were arriving at the same time as the RTP. At the time it was not uncommon for members of the local press to drop bribes in order to gain special access to the crime scene. Police were particularly casual with this scene as they believed they had already solved the crime. Semen was visible on the body and, having collected this evidence, they presumed the case would soon be wrapped up. The police commissioner for the fifth region, General Aram Chanpen, confidently stated to the press that the culprit was one of the guests or staff at the Aree Guesthouse and DNA evidence meant an arrest was guaranteed within a week. This assumption meant standard protocol went out of the window, no fingerprint search was undertaken and dozens of people were allowed to contaminate the crime scene.

This sexist and victim blaming attitude displayed at the crime scene by some of the police and journalists continued into the early stages of the investigation. The local chief of police Colonel Prasit Thamdi, told reporters that it appeared that Kirsty had engaged in consensual sex and that what had happened could very well be an accident. This abhorrent and baseless theory was spouted before the pathology report had even been released. As we will see shortly, when it was released, the medical evidence would blow this scenario out of the water.

Within a day or so of Kirsty’s body being found the RTP were already naming suspects in the press. 

32 year old Andy, the expat manager of the Aree was one of the people the RTP were looking at. He had disappeared just hours before the maid found the body. He claimed to police that he had to go and sort out a visa issue as his most recent one had expired.Police discovered that there was indeed an issue with Andy's visa. He was taken into custody due to visa violations, placed in jail and fined the equivalent of £33.  Andy claimed he had not been at the guesthouse when Kirsty was murdered and said that a Thai friend could provide a statement proving he didn't get back until after the murder had happened. 

Andy’s colleague, the Thai manager Surin, was also checked out by the RTP. He had a history of drug dealing and had previously spent time in prison for drug related offences. Marijuana and amphetamines were found in his room during a police search. He too was taken into custody by  RTP for possession of illegal substances. During the search of his room police also found a postcard of a pornographic picture of a woman in bondage gear. This raised some serious red flags. 

The Australian man named Nathan who had gone to dinner with Kirsty and her friend Sarah on the evening she was killed was viewed suspiciously. After the body was found, the RCP struggled to locate Nathan and he was missing for a few hours. When he was eventually traced he was questioned for 13 hours by the RTP.

Stephen, the British backpacker who had heard Kirstys screams and had left his room to investigate them, was another potential suspect. The bearded 27 year old  had been staying at the guesthouse for some time and had been backpacking for four years. The Guardian reported that by August 16 2000 Stephen had already been taken off the list of potential suspects. 

Another Australian, 28 year old Stuart, was also on the list. He had a penchant (pon-shon) for street fighting and was a known heroin addict. In the aforementioned Guardian article, heroin and cannabis were found in his room and he too was arrested for possession of drugs. 

Finally there was Glen, an American and ex-Mormon elder. He was renowned for telling farfetch stories and even proclaimed himself to have been once employed by the CIA as a spy. He was in Thailand to recuperate following head injuries he had sustained in a car accident.  

All these men were taken to the Phra Singh municipal police station and questioned. It's fair to say the local police were not used to a case of this magnitude. The world's media were beginning to gather in Chiang Mai and pressure was mounting for a swift resolution. 

Less than a week after Kirsty was murdered the investigation took a dramatic turn when the maid who claimed to have discovered the body changed her story. She now told police that she did not find her body between 4pm and 4.30pm but actually discovered it at 10.30am. She asserted that she was told to hold off informing the police by her managers Andy and Surin.

They both had reason to delay the police investigation. Andy wanted time to sort out his expired visa before the police arrived and started their enquiries. Surin needed to get rid of any drugs or drug paraphernalia from his room. He obviously failed to do this as drugs were discovered that belonged to him. 

Other reports suggest the maid did not find the body and it was Surin or Andy who first discovered it. The 2001 Channel 4 documentary “Murder in Paradise'' put forward that it was Andy who had found the body. According to Andy, at about midday on August 10th his colleague Surin had mentioned the noises he had heard coming from Kirsty's room in the early hours of the morning. Andy asked around and realised no one had seen Kirsty that morning. Surin told Andy he believed Kirsty had checked out, as her room was padlocked from the outside. Andy went into the room and found Kirsty lying face down wearing no underwear. Andy told Surin what he had discovered and they panicked as they both had reasons to avoid the police. 

The British backpacker, Stephen, who police had already crossed off the list of suspects, allegedly suggested both Andy and Surin’s involvement. He reportedly said when he heard Kirsty’s shouts of “get off me” he thought it sounded like she was  talking to an English speaker rather than a Thai person. I am not sure how he was able to make that distinction. Surin denied any knowledge, and blamed Andy. He claimed he had once seen Andy get drunk and physically assault a female guest. Fingers were pointing in all directions. 

Journalist Pim Kemasingki worked the case from the very first day and acted as an interpreter for British journalist Andrew Drummond of the Times and the BBC. In a series of articles published in 2012 in which she reminisces about the early days of the investigation Kemasingki says that the RTP wanted the culprit to be a foreigner. If this was the case it would be far less damaging to the reputation of the city as a safe place for tourists. 

The RTP and the press were expectanly waiting for the pathology report and  results from the lab concerning the DNA evidence left at the scene. Eight days after the murder, Dr Tanin Bhoupat, a professor and chairperson of the department of forensic medicine at Chiang Mai university, informed the police of his initial findings.Kirsty had been strangled to death with the blue sarong.  The forensic evidence concerning the sexual assault proved more contentious as it did not provide the information the police were hoping for. Dr Tanin later told journalists Andrew Drummond and Pim Kemasingki that the police had put him under pressure to find evidence that pointed towards a foreign killer. This however was not what the DNA analysis showed. Dr Tanin was sure that based on the DNA evidence the peron who had raped and murdered Kirsty was from Southeast Asia. This scientific evidence did not seem to dampen the determination of the RTP to pursue a foreign suspect. 

Colonel Suthep Dejraksa of the RTP espoused a theory that he had heard reports that on the night of the murder a foreign man had been out in the streets near the Aree Guesthouse and bought semen from a tuk tuk driver. There were stories that this type of thing had occurred in other, previous cases.The collected semen had then been planted at the crime scene to cover the perpetrator’s tracks. This theory was strongly rebuked by the pathologist Dr Tanin. He said the semen being spread around the crime scene in this way did not correlate to the violence of the sexual assault. The semen tested by Dr Tanin had been found on the blue sarong tied around Kirsty’s neck. Semen was also found deep inside Kirsty’s body where it would have been impossible to plant. I have read on the blog “True Crime Diva” that journalist Andrew Drummond confirmed in 2015 that Kirtys was raped annally. I have not been able to confirm this but the other information found on the blog is accurate and well researched so I have no reason to doubt this point.

Colonel Suthep disagreed with Dr Tanin and was struck by his scenario of what had happened. From what I have read, the semen found inside Kirsty’s body was later tested and I have found nothing to suggest it was from another person. Dr Tanin believed the evidence was that only one person was involved in the sexual assault and murder of Kirsty.

Following the initial DNA results the two Aussie men, Nathan and Stuart, along with self proclaimed ex-CIA spy Glen were dismissed as suspects. Surin and Andy both remained in custody on their respective charges  for drugs and Visa violations and both continued to be viewed with suspicion regarding their possible involvement in Kirsty’s murder. 

Just two days after the revelations about the DNA, a press conference being held by RTP about Kirsty Jones’s murder was interrupted by a Mayamar born man named Narong who handed the high ranking police officers present an official letter of complaint. 

34 year old Narong, also known as Abraham, lived some of the time at a local catholic school and had volunteered in the church for years. He worked full time as a trekking guide and had taken Kirsty and other tourists 100 km east of Chiang Mai to the region of Mae Chaem just days before she was killed. 

In the letter handed to the RTP Narong claimed that he had been kidnapped, drugged and tortured in order to force him to confess to the murder of Kirsty Jones. His extraordinary story started when he was walking down a street and bundled into a white van. He was taken to a motel where he was stripped naked and his pubic hair was pulled and burnt.  A person then stood on his stomach and he was beaten.  Narong was threatened with death but would not give in and confess to a crime he said he was not guilty of. The men tried to force him to masturbate in order to collect his semen. Presumably to plant as evidence. He refused to do so, at which point his torturers attempted to push him down and do it for him. After struggling for some time Narong passed out. When he came around he was in a Chiang Mai police station. None of the police officers could explain to him how he had ended up there and he was eventually allowed to go home.

Narong believed his life was in danger. He was put in contact with the journalists Andrew Drummound and Pim Kemasingki. To confront the RTP with these allegations at the press conference was a deliberate ploy to give Narong and his story the maximum exposure and hopefully secure him from any future attacks.

Narong told Drummond and Kemasingki that he did remember Kirsty from the hiking trip but did not spend any time with her alone. The last time he had seen her was at a meal the trekking group had together when they returned to Chiang Mai. His belief was that he was being targeted because he was not Thai and the mountain tribe that he came from were looked down upon by the authorities. He was a convenient scapegoat.

Both Drummond and Kemasingki witnessed the bruises on Narong’s body and said he had the appearance of someone who had gone through the ordeal he described. Narong was not sure who had kidnapped him but the inference was that it must be someone connected to the RTP. General Aram Chanpen who was present at the press conference when Narong went public with his allegations said he knew nothing of what had happened to Narong and vowed to ensure the events would be properly investigated. The RTP put the incident down to rogue elements within the police and denied that it had happened on the basis of official orders. 

Why was Narong targeted at all? In the Channel 4 documentary “Murder in Paradise”, the British backpacker Sarah, who had gone with Kirsty on the extended hike had told RTP that Narong had made Kirsty feel uncomfortable. 

The guesthouse  managers Andy and Surin remained on the radar and both were kept in jail. Although DNA pointed to an Asian culprit there was a thought that Andy could have been an accomplice to an Asian murderer. Despite the scientific evidence, there were also some police officers who continued to believe that the attack was committed by a foreigner who had planted Asian DNA.

The mountain guide Narong was firmly in police sights but because of the convincing account of his kidnapping they were loath to formally name him as a suspect. 

Surin put forward an alibi that was backed up by his wife, Panthipa. She said her husband had been in their second floor room all night other than when he went downstairs to investigate the noises coming from Kirsty's room. Surin had been taking a shower when he first heard a disturbance coming from downstairs. Panthipa also said that her husband had a back injury which made sex difficult.

Surin himself was very open with reporters, voicing his own theories about what he thought had happened to Kirsty and telling stories of Kirsty’s spirit haunting the guesthouse. At one point he even said that he had seen his fellow manger, Andy, having sex with Kirsty through the window of her room. He later amended that account to see he had actually just seen Andy leaving her room. Surin also detailed other suspicious activity that he alleged Andy had displayed following the murder, such as removing the padlock from Kirsty’s door, cleaning it and then replacing it. Many people found it difficult to take Surin’s allegations seriously as he was often drunk when he was telling these stories.

Surin's wife Panthipa remained loyal to her husband. She was a vulnerable person with a history of mental illness. While Surin was taken into custody following Kirsty’s murder the 36 year old took charge of the Aree Guesthouse. On the 22nd August the RTP were called to the property following a disturbance to find Panthipa attempting suicide. Police broke into her room to see Panthipa hanging from the ceiling by a piece of nylon rope. Thankfully she was able to be cut down in time to save her life and she went on to make a full recovery. 

Rumours amongst locals were rife; everyone had an opinion or theory about the case. One such story was that Kirsty had been deliberately placed in the room below Surin’s and Andy’s as the pair had plans to secretly film her through a hole in the floorboard. This was supposedly part of a wider illegal pornography business the two managers were running out of the guesthouse. The RTP did investigate this lead but found no evidence of anything like this having occurred. Other people claimed they had seen evidence of this explicit material surfacing online but no-one could ever provide any conclusive evidence. 

By August 25th the full DNA comparison results were released. The DNA found in sperm contained in the semen at the crime scene did not match any of the men the RTP had arrested or questioned in connection with the case, including Andy, Surin and Narong. Despite this Colonel Prasit of the RTP said that one of the suspects could still be connected in some way. He suggested that two men were involved in the murder, one Thai and one a foreigner. This contradicted the opinion of the pathologist who had stated the evidence pointed to one man being involved in the attack and that person being from Asia.

Colonel Prasit also stated that one of the men involved in the assault was a “larger man”. In the articles written by journalist Pim Kemasingki in 2012 she mentions that this appeared to be reference to an earlier comment made by the colonel at a press conference. He had then referenced the fact that Surin had a large penis and injected it with olive oil to achieve this effect. At the time the assembled journalists were left bemused. It seemed like the RTP still believed Surin was involved in some way. Kemasingki goes on to say that according to the pathologist there was no evidence that the man who assaulted Kirsty was large.

More unfounded rumours began circulating suggesting that Surin was linked to a foreign mafia gang that operated out of the Night bazaar. If you remember Kirsty visited here just hours before she was killed. Possibly linked to this theory, a French national and friend of Surin became a suspect in the case (despite the fact that DNA pointed to an Asian perpetrator). This person came to light following a 30,000 Baht reward (the equivalent of £50)  that was put up by the RTP after the disappointment of the DNA results. Four other Thai friends of Surin were also presented as persons of interest. DNA samples were taken from all these men and compared to the DNA evidence found at the scene. Yet again there was no match. 

The RTP finally began to acknowledge that this crime was not going to be as easy to solve as they had first thought. It was now, over two weeks after the murder, that it was announced that a fingerprint had been found in Kirsty’s room at the Aree Guesthouse. As so many people had been through the room since that time it was largely useless and nothing came of this lead. 

With the DNA evidence appearing to clear Andy it came as a shock when he was officially charged with conspiracy to rape and murder Kirsty Jones at the end of September 2000. It seems that this development occurred after Surin updated his statement to police. He told police that earlier on the night Kirsty was killed he had noticed the light on in her room. Through the window he saw a man who at first he told police he recognised but could not identify. In Surin’s updated statement he said the man was his colleague Andy. (If you recall Surin had been telling a story from about five weeks into the investigation that he had seen Andy having sex with Kirsty. Though he amended this to say he had seen him leaving her room. It’s unclear if this incident is the same one alluded to in his updated statement.)

After Andy's arrest the RTP set about attempting to build a case. Sixty days later on November 30 2000 Andy was released without charge, due to a lack of evidence. Writing in the Wales on Sunday in October 2001, Rachel Mainwaring details some of the information aired in the Channel 4 documentary “Murder in Paradise'' regarding this part of the story.  In the documentary, journalist Andrew Drummond discovered that Andy’s father had transferred £14,000 pounds from a bank account in the south of France in a series of payments to Andy’s ex wife, Mam, in Thailand. The money was then used to pay officials involved in the Thai courts and prosecution service.

Drummond has said this does not indicate or imply guilt; he was simply trying to get out of a situation that was potentially going to drag on for years to come. The justice system in Thailand works at a snail's pace and cases can take up to five years to get to trial. Drummond said in the past had seen guilty people use the bribe system to get out of things but did not believe this to be the case with Andy. Andy himself says in the Channel 4 documentary that he paid the bribe in order to speed up the inevitable, as the RTP had no evidence against him.  At the time, bribes were simply part of how the system worked. Following his release from prison Andy was deported back to the UK. 

In 2001, investigators from Dyfed-Powys police (the area where Kirsty is from) were granted access to some of the forensic evidence in the case and were permitted to carry out their own tests. In January 2002 they released their findings. They said that the DNA collected from the semen left at the crime scene pointed towards someone who was a relative of the hiking guide Narong. They stressed that the DNA was not his but said it did share a likeness. Following this revelation, attempts were made in Thailand to track down members male members of Narong’s family. Nothing materialised from this lead and the angle was quietly dropped from prominence in the search for Kisty’s killer.

Despite the DNA evidence and forensic evidence to the contrary, RTP continued to eye Surin with suspicion. In 2002 they arrested two trans women who confessed that on the night of Kirsty’s murder they had been hired by Surin to provide him with semen in order to plant it at the scene. Again this led nowhere as the pathologist Dr Tanin was adamant that semen was found too deep inside Kirsty’s body to have been planted. 

The case went cold and Dyfed-Powys police had to fight hard to stop their Thai counterparts closing the case. After lobbying by the Welsh police, the British embassy and the Jones family, the case was transferred from the RTP to the Department of Specialist Investigations (DSI) in August of 2005. It was hoped this would give the investigation a much needed boost and lead to more cooperation with the Welsh police. However things were still difficult in this regard; the following year officers from Dyfed-Powys police asked to interview some of the original witnesses. Some of these people were now living in the UK  but as the case was under the authority of Thai law enforcement they needed to seek special permission. In theory they agree to this undertaking but the paperwork was not released and I'm unclear whether Welsh police were ever able to conduct these interviews. 

Sue Jones, Kirsty’s mother has always spoken very highly of the investigators from Dyfed-Powys police and their tenacity at working every possible lead. Welsh police received a tip regarding two potential suspects in 2011. News got to them that an Australian man who was living in Chiang Mai in 2000 had posted some youtube videos, in which he mentioned two men who were seen in the area on the night of the murder. One of the men was a Thai police officer referred to as Tony by journalist Andrew Drummond.  I believe Tony had come up in connection with the case previously as he had a reputation for trying  to chat up tourists. The other was a professor at Chiang Mai university. Both men were found and the Thai policeman willingly provided a DNA sample, through which he was cleared. At first the professor refused to give a DNA sample but did eventually agree. It was not a match to the DNA found at the scene. 

Not long after these suspects were cleared, Sue Jones travelled to Thailand with Dyfed Powys investigators to mark the twelfth anniversary of Kirsty’s murder. Sue was hoping to reinvigorate the search for her daughter's killer. In Thailand there is a 20 year statute of limitations on murder and all involved were aware that time was short if there was to be a breakthrough and Kirtys killer brought to justice. To aid matters the welsh police and the Jones family raised a reward of £10,000. Thai authorities were able to confirm that the DNA  profile had been run through a new national database containing 80,000 individuals. Kirsty’s killer was not among them. In 2013 welsh police conducted their own review of the forensic evidence but yet again it did not lead to any arrests and no new leads materialised

Since 2012  Sue Jones and the family have attempted to gain access to the Thai police case files. A freedom of information request was made but to no avail. The foreign office, while offering some support to the family, was cautious about getting involved for fear of damaging diplomatic relations with Thailand. Very early on in the investigation a British embassy staff member spoke of the utter shambles the Thai police had made of the case. This statement was later denied and in recent years the foreign office has been loath to criticise Thai authorities. 

By 2017 the realisation was sinking in that Kirsty’s case may never be solved. The matter was raised on the floor of the House of Commons when Chris Davies, the MP for Breconshire and Radonshire ,asked the then prime minister Theresa May about Kirsty’s case. Though she said the foreign office would raise the issue with Thai authorities, the government could not get involved in a criminal investigation.  

Three years passed quickly and in the spring of 2020, just months before the case was due to be closed, Welsh police were still working hard and hoping for a breakthrough. Detectives. as well as forensic scientists, travelled to Thailand to help the investigation in any way they could. 

Unfortunately nothing new came to light and Kirsty’s case was officially closed by Thai police on August 10th 2020. Speaking to the BBC Sue Jones said justice would not have filled the void left by Kirsty but it would have provided some closure. Detective Gary Phillips of Dyfed -Powys police echoed those feelings of disappointment in how the investigation ended. Sue Jones said she just hopes that the family did enough to enable her daughter to rest in peace. 

Andy became a baggage handler at a British airport and married and has at least one child. Surin passed away in 2007. I have not been able to find out what became of Narong.   Kirsty is still very much missed by all who loved her and her memory and spirit of adventure still lives on.