Case 328: Kirsty Jones

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From a young age, Kirstie Jones was sure of one thing.

She wanted to see as much of the world as possible.

At 14, she decided that after finishing high school, she'd leave her family's 300-acre farm just outside the small Welsh village of Tredomen and spend a year travelling around Australia.

In 1996, 18-year-old Kirsty did just that.

She met her travel companion through a classified ad in her local newspaper and off they went.

While Kirstie's parents, Sue and Glynn Jones, were naturally worried, they supported their daughter's wonderlust.

Kirstie was a vibrant, smart and independent young woman who craved adventure and new experiences.

They knew there was no point trying to hold her back.

The gap year in Australia was transformative for Kirsty.

Her parents remarked that she left Wales as a child and came home an adult.

Her rich scratched for the time being, Kirstie spent the next couple of years at Liverpool University completing a double degree in English and media studies.

But her next adventure was never far from her mind.

While studying, Kirstie spent her spare time working two jobs to fund her next trip.

This time she'd set her sights on something bigger.

Kirstie planned to spend two years backpacking solo through through Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America.

She felt it was something she had to get out of her system.

After that, she promised her parents she'd settle down.

While Sue and Glynn Jones had their reservations about Kirstie travelling alone, they weren't as worried this time around.

23-year-old Kirstie was older, wiser and more experienced than when she'd left on her gap year, and they were proud of her for following her dreams.

They also knew she wouldn't be alone for long.

Not only did she have plans to meet up with her best friend and boyfriend along the way, but people were naturally drawn to the confident and outgoing Kirstie, and it wouldn't be long before she'd connect with other backpackers.

Technology had also come a long way since Kirstie's gap year travels, and this time she'd be able to keep in touch with her family via email and video calls.

Kirstie set off for her trip in May 2000.

She ventured through Singapore and Malaysia for several weeks before reaching Thailand.

She'd been looking forward to this ever since she'd first visited the land of smiles on her way home from Australia a few years earlier.

Kirstie spent some time in the hustle and bustle of Bangkok before heading north to Chiang Mai for a change of pace.

Located 700 kilometers north of Bangkok in the Thai Highlands, Chiang Mai is a favourite among backpackers who are drawn by the laid-back lifestyle, Buddhist temples, thriving nightlife, and affordability of the mountain city.

Following Thailand's economic collapse in 1997, Westerners could make their money stretch a long way in Chiang Mai.

with as little as three British pounds affording you an authentic Thai meal and beer at a restaurant with a view over the Meiping River.

Sue and Glynn Jones loved getting email updates from Kirsty.

After a week in Chiang Mai, she regaled them with stories about her three-day trek in the Mei Cham mountain region where she'd rode elephants and visited native hill tribes.

Kirstie had only been gone for two months, but already it was shaping up to be the adventure of a lifetime.

In August 2000, Sue and Glynn traveled to Spain with two of their friends to celebrate their 25-year wedding anniversary.

On the evening of Thursday, August 10, they were getting ready for dinner when there was a knock at the door of their hotel room.

Their friends were standing there looking devastated.

They told Sue and Glenn they'd just seen something shocking on the news.

It was around 4:30 p.m.

on the afternoon of Thursday, August 10, 2000, when police scanners around Chiang Mai buzzed with the grim announcement.

A cleaner at a local hostel had just entered the room of 23-year-old Kirsty Jones, only to discover a horrific scene.

The young backpacker was lying face down on the bed, naked from the waist down.

A sarong was tied tightly around her neck.

Police rushed to the crime scene.

a two-story building called the Ari Guesthouse and Massage School.

The Ari was typical of of the area.

Located on one of downtown Chiang Mai's many narrow laneways, it offered backpackers and budget travelers a no-frills place to stay at the affordable rate of around £1 a night for a single room.

Guests of the nine-room lodging could mingle in the small shady garden and open-air bar while the owners also ran a massage school from the second floor.

Kirstie had chosen the Ari as her home base during her stay in Chiang Mai.

Officers made their way down the hallway and into her bedroom on the first floor.

It was a basic room containing nothing more than a rickety double bed with an old wooden dresser and a tabletop fan.

A thin mattress adorned with a bright floral pattern sat atop the bed, while cheap floral curtains hung haphazardly from the window that overlooked the hallway.

By the time police entered the room, they were not the first ones there.

Tipped off by the local police scanner, an entire television crew had already arrived and taken footage and photos of the scene while curious onlookers peered in.

As police began assessing the room, they didn't stop to seal off the crime scene, and reporters and photographers continued to trickle in.

Local journalist Pym Kemesinki was among them.

Writing for Chiang Mai publication City Life, she later recalled that around 20 people had entered Kirstie's room before any forensic evidence had even been collected.

Some reporters rummaged through Kirstie's clothes and toiletry bag, one of them tutting in judgment as he held up a packet of condoms.

One camera operator even turned Kirstie's head from side to side to get the shot they wanted.

None of the police officers present seemed even remotely concerned.

Not only had the crime scene been severely compromised, another problem for the police was that they couldn't find a forensic pathologist who was available to come to the Ari guest house to examine Kirstie's body.

Instead, her body was eventually taken to the Chiang Mai hospital where an autopsy determined that she had died from asphyxiation.

Severe internal bruising indicated she'd been violently raped.

Semen found in her body gave the police the confidence that her killer would be promptly found and brought to justice.

Straight off the bat, police were convinced that Kirsty had been killed by someone she knew.

Her room was located inside the guesthouse and could be padlocked from both the inside and outside.

There were no signs of forced entry, which led the police police to believe that Kirstie might have invited the perpetrator inside.

They were also convinced the killer had been a farung, the Thai word for a foreigner.

Kirstie had been sodomized, which they reasoned was a sexual act that Thai men didn't engage in.

The most obvious explanation for the police was that the killer had also been staying at the Ori guesthouse.

While the cheap rates of the hostel drew in backpackers from all over the world, it also attracted some dubious customers.

Thailand has long been known as a destination for those looking to escape their lives back home, and despite the country's strict anti-drug laws, illicit drugs were readily available in Chiang Mai.

One French backpacker told The Guardian, You can get almost anything you want.

The year before Kirstie Jones was murdered, the RE guesthouse had been closed down for six months after one of its guests died of a heroin overdose.

Given this ill repute, police were certain that they'd find Kirstie's killer among the RE's clientele.

One by one, each of the guests were taken to the city's main police station for questioning.

27-year-old Nathan Foley was an Australian backpacker who had stopped over in Thailand on his way to visit relatives in the UK.

He'd met Kirstie at the RE and the two had got chatting.

Both solo travellers, Nathan was thankful to have someone to talk to and the pair had explored the city together.

Nathan told the police that on the evening of Wednesday, August 9, the night before Kirstie was killed, He'd gone out to dinner at a local restaurant with Kirstie and a British backpacker named Sarah Wigert.

Nathan claimed that he'd left Kirsty and Sarah at about 10pm and went back to the RE where he'd taken a couple of sleeping pills and gone straight to sleep.

Sarah Wigart wasn't staying at the RE but at a different hostel nearby.

Police tracked her down and brought her in for questioning.

Sarah was horrified to hear what had happened to Kirstie.

The two had met on a three-day trekking trip which had ended just two days prior and they'd bonded over their shared experiences as solo female travellers.

Sarah told the police that after Nathan Foley left the previous evening, she and Kirsty visited the night markets which were about a 25 minute walk from the RE.

They strolled around until about 11pm, by which point Sarah had had enough of shopping and was ready to go back to her hostel.

Kirstie stayed on, saying she had some more presents she wanted to buy.

Another long-term RE resident, Stephen Trigg, told the police that at around 1am he'd heard a commotion coming from Kirstie's room.

It sounded like a woman was screaming, get out, get out, leave me alone.

Stephen claimed he went to investigate, but the screaming stopped, so he went back to bed, assuming it had been nothing more than a lover's tiff.

Stephen was a seasoned traveller who had been staying at the RE for several months.

He said it was common to overhear these types of arguments and they didn't usually result in any problems.

The RE's tyre manager, 47-year-old Surin Chan Pranet, lived upstairs and also ran the massage school there.

A known drug dealer, he had been arrested twice before for possession of heroin.

Surin told the police that he too had heard the screams coming from Kirstie's room.

Surin said he'd been in the shower at the time and had gone downstairs to Kirstie's room with Stephen Trigg to investigate.

He pressed his ear to the door but heard nothing.

Not wanting to invade a guest's privacy, he went back to bed and told Stephen to do the same.

Kirstie's autopsy confirmed that she had been killed around the same time the screams were heard coming from her room.

With Sarah Wigart being the last person to see her alive at 11 p.m., police deduced that Kirstie had likely returned to the guesthouse at around midnight and was killed within an hour of returning.

They didn't know if she had walked the 25-minute route home from the markets or caught a local taxi known as a tuk-tuk.

A search of the RE's manager Surin Champrinette's room revealed cannabis and amphetamines and he was placed under arrest for possession.

Suspicion that Surin could have been involved in Kirstie's murder was raised when a postcard was found in his room that featured a white woman tied up in bondage.

But Surin's girlfriend, Pentipa, who also lived at the RE, supported Surin's story.

She said that he'd been in their room all night, except for when he heard the noise coming from Kirstie's room and went downstairs to see what was going on.

Police were also highly suspicious of 28-year-old Stuart Crichton, another Australian man who had also been staying at the Ari for several months.

Unknown heroin user with a history of street fighting, Stuart claimed to have no knowledge of Kirstie Jones' Jones's murder.

Yet, a search of his room turned up cannabis and heroin, prompting police to also place him under arrest for possession and hold him in custody.

Another long-term Ari resident also proved to be a dubious figure after he claimed to be a former Mormon elder and CIA spy who had come to Thailand to recover from a head injury.

While none of the questioning resulted in an arrest for Kirstie Jones' murder, the police remained convinced that she had known her killer.

They considered the possibility that Kirstie could have invited the perpetrator into her room where she then refused his sexual advances.

Feeling rejected, he could have turned violent and launched an attack.

The senior investigating officer put forward a controversial theory when he publicly suggested that Kirstie could have engaged in consensual sex and had been strangled to death by accident.

This comment not only deeply upset Kirstie's already heartbroken family, but added further criticism to the investigation which had been receiving widespread media attention from the moment reporters arrived at the crime scene.

This theory led suspicion to fall on Nathan Foley, the Australian man Kirstie had dinner with the night before she died.

Not only had they spent the most time together, but after Kirstie's body was found, it had taken police a few hours to track Nathan down, leading them to wonder if he was trying to hide.

But Nathan Foley adamantly denied having anything to do with the crime or having any romantic interest in Kirstie.

With no evidence or witnesses to suggest otherwise, he was free to leave the station.

But the prospect of facing the overly zealous press was too daunting.

The phone at the police station had been ringing non-stop.

Kirstie's travel buddy Sarah Wigert later recalled to Murder in Paradise that while she was waiting to be interviewed, one officer had handed her the phone and said, It's for you.

It's the press office wanting to find out what happened.

Sarah was stunned.

She hadn't even given her account to law enforcement at that point, yet they were already encouraging her to speak to the media.

Aware of the attention the case was receiving already, Nathan Foley opted to remain in police custody, where he requested protection.

He, along with all of the ARIE's other male residents, were required to provide DNA samples for testing.

While investigators waited for the results, immigration authorities were alerted alerted to stop any of the suspects from leaving the country.

One investigator told the press that while they didn't know exactly what happened, they were certain one of the Ari guests or staff members were responsible.

Kirstie knew her killer, he stated.

We are confident we will make an arrest in seven to ten days.

There was one resident of the Ari guest house who was noticeably absent.

32-year-old Andy Gill was a British man who had been living in Thailand on and off for the past 12 years.

A well-known character among Chiang Mai's expat community, Andy had once been married to a Thai woman and the two had a child together.

Two years before Kirstie's murder, Andy had taken over ownership of the Re after its Thai owner moved overseas.

Curiously, when Kirstie's body was discovered, Andy was nowhere to be found.

It took the police two days before they finally tracked Andy Gill down at a local bar.

He claimed that on the night of Kirstie's murder, he hadn't been at the guesthouse.

He'd been out with a Thai friend who could vouch for his whereabouts.

But a quick background check on Andy revealed that he was actually in Thailand illegally, having overstayed overstayed his visa by two years.

For this offence, he was promptly placed under arrest and given a small fine.

With three of the ARI residents under arrest for offences unrelated to Kirstie's murder, the story quickly became a media sensation, both in Thailand and overseas.

Not only did the case include a cast of colourful characters whose faces were splashed across the news, but it touched touched on the worst fears of every parent whose children were off backpacking in foreign lands.

Dozens of journalists from major media outlets converged in Chiang Mai, speaking to anyone who was willing to talk.

Back in Wales, Kirstie's family struggled to come to terms with it all.

Her parents, Sue and Glynn, returned from their wedding anniversary trip to Spain immediately after hearing the news.

Utterly devastated, the pair remained under sedation at their family home.

Kirstie's 21-year-old brother Gareth had been out driving the tractor on the family farm when he heard the news about Kirstie's murder on the radio.

He told British newspaper The Independent,

I just cannot believe what has happened.

At the moment, I'm just pretending Kirstie is still away on holiday and will eventually come back.

I just want to keep on working to take my mind off what has happened.

I don't know what my parents will do.

My mother will not be able to cope.

Kirstie's murder put Chiang Mai under the global spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Like so much of Thailand, Chiang Mai's economy relied heavily on tourism.

not just from backpackers, but from travelers of all ages and backgrounds.

With the intense scrutiny of the international press highlighting every misstep of the investigation and criticising the offensive theories shared by the police chief, concerns were high about the negative impact the story would have on tourism.

The pressure was on for the police to solve the case, fast.

A few days into the investigation, they got the breakthrough they'd been hoping for when the cleaner who'd discovered Kirstie's body came forward to change her story.

The cleaner had originally claimed that she'd found Kirstie's body at around 4.30 on the afternoon of Thursday, August 10.

But this had been a lie.

She admitted that the discovery had actually been made at around 10.30am.

and not by her, but by the ARIE's owner, Andy Gill.

The The cleaner told the police that Andy and the guesthouse manager Surin Champrinet had asked her to hold off making the report for almost five hours while they dealt with some other issues.

When questioned about this allegation, Andy Gill admitted it was true.

He claimed it was late on Thursday morning when Surin Champrinet approached him to say that there had been some commotion coming from Kirstie's room the night before.

Andy asked if anyone had seen Kirstie yet.

Surin told him no, adding that her room was padlocked from the outside.

According to Andy, his first thought was that Kirstie might have gotten in a fight with someone and had run away.

He wasn't worried that something bad might have happened to her.

He was more worried that she had run off without paying her bill.

Andy had a spare key for the padlock, so he went and unlocked Kirstie's room, only to find her lying face down on the bed inside.

He could tell straight away that she'd been raped.

Andy claimed he got out of there as quickly as he could.

He went upstairs to fetch Surin and brought him back down to see the scene for himself.

Andy's first thought was to call the police, but he knew they'd discover he had overstayed his visa and this would would put him in big trouble.

Also, if word got out that someone had died in the guesthouse, he knew the bad publicity would be detrimental for his business.

Instead, Andy took off, trying to get hold of someone in immigration who could sort out a new visa for him before they alerted the police.

Surin Chan Pranat supported Andy's story, but he also added something else.

Surin claimed that after showing him Akursty's body, Andy took the padlock from her door and washed it.

When he was sure any fingerprint evidence had been destroyed, he put it back on its hinge.

The police were very interested in this detail.

It not only suggested that Andy had a level of knowledge about crime scene investigations, but it also raised the question of why he would think to destroy this evidence.

It also didn't explain why Surin Champrinette hadn't alerted the authorities.

If it was so he could get rid of any illicit drugs he had, the discovery of cannabis and amphetamines in his room suggested he hadn't done a very good job.

Curiously, Surin had also been the one who told the other guests to go back to bed after hearing the commotion coming from Kirstie's room.

For the police, all of this suspicious behavior had them wondering, what were these two men trying to hide?

Case file will be back shortly.

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Andy Gill and Surin Chan Pranette quickly rose from persons of interest to suspects and remained in custody due to their respective visa and drug charges.

The results of the DNA tests were expected on Saturday, August 19, nine days into the investigation.

But when that highly anticipated day came, the police announced there had been an unexpected delay.

During an unrelated press conference, a 34-year-old man named Narong Pojana Tamrong Pong walked into the police station wanting to file a complaint.

Narong was a member of the Karan Hill tribe, an ethnic minority in northern Thailand.

He worked full-time as a tour guide and had guided the three-day trek through the Meichem district that Kirstie Jones had been a part of in the days before her death.

While Narong remembered Kirstie, she had been just one of his many clients and the two hadn't spent any one-on-one time together or had any notable interactions.

According to Narong's official complaint, he'd been walking down the road when a van suddenly pulled up next to him and a handful of men jumped out.

They grabbed Narong and threw him face first into the back of their van, blindfolding him and forcing him to take a sip of an unknown substance.

The next thing Narong remembered was waking up in what looked like a cheap motel room.

He was surrounded by men in plain clothes who he assumed to be police officers.

The men urged Narong to confess to Kirsty Jones' murder.

They reasoned that he was a second-class citizen and should help his country by helping to close the case which had already gone on too long.

The men said that a confession would get him a prison sentence.

Refusing to confess would result in an execution.

Narong claimed that over several hours, the men stripped him naked, beat him and stood on his chest and stomach while ordering him to confess.

They plucked and burned off some of his pubic hair.

One of the men then ordered Narong to masturbate to the point of ejaculation.

When he refused to do so, the man attempted to do it for him, only giving up when it was obvious he wasn't going to get the desired outcome.

The men allegedly told Narong that if his DNA didn't match the sample found at the scene of Kirstie's murder, they would make it match.

Narong was terrified.

Still, he refused to confess, telling himself that God would protect him as he'd done nothing wrong.

Eventually, Narong passed out and when he came to, he was in a police station in the outskirts of Chiang Mai with no idea of how he got there.

Without explanation, he was free to leave.

Narong was a member of the Chiang Mai Guide Association, a group that supports licensed tour guides in Chiang Mai.

He went straight to the headquarters and told them what had happened.

Fearing that Narong could be framed and used as a scapegoat, an employee of the association encouraged him to take his story to the media before filing a complaint with the police.

Narong arranged to speak to local journalist Pim Kemasinki, who had been covering the Jones case from the outset, and Andrew Drummond, an independent British journalist living in Thailand.

Telling them about his ordeal, he pulled up his shirt, revealing a badly bruised torso.

His story was published by the international and Thai media, prompting the Chiang Mai Guide Association to protest in the streets.

The police denied having any knowledge of the attack on Naurong Pojana Tamrongpong.

They claimed whoever had kidnapped him had been part of a rogue unit and said that Narong's claims would be investigated fairly.

The truth about who was behind the kidnapping was never revealed, but as Pim Kamasinki later wrote,

Like many ethnic minorities in Thailand who have been used as police and society's scapegoats, Narong knew he was in an extremely dangerous situation.

The fact is, he is lucky to have escaped without a forced signed confession, let alone his life.

Regardless of who was behind the attack, Narong's story added yet another source of humiliation for the Chiang Mai police as they entered day 10 of the investigation with no arrests.

When the results of the DNA tests were finally in, Police were hopeful that it would put an end to the media circus once and for all.

But the results of the test were not what anyone was expecting.

The DNA found on Kirstie's body didn't match any of the Ari guesthouse residence or its owner.

It also didn't belong to a Farong.

The DNA proved without doubt that Kirstie's killer had been a Southeast Asian male.

Regardless, the police remained convinced that a foreigner had been involved in the crime.

They told the press that despite the Ari's foreign clientele being cleared by DNA, they weren't ruling out the possibility that one of them could have been complicit or acted as an accomplice in Kirstie's murder.

A fresh set of blood tests and hair samples were taken from each of the Ari residents for a second set of testing.

Even though the Ari's manager, Surin Champrinette's DNA didn't match that found on Kirstie, he became the prime suspect.

Police detained three of his Thai associates as well as one of his French friends and obtained a DNA sample from each of them.

They also called for any Tuk-Tuk drivers who may have given Kirstie a ride home from the markets on the night of her murder to come forward.

The senior investigating officer continued to come under criticism after he made some bizarre comments in the press about the extent of Kirstie's injuries, leading him to believe that her killer had been well endowed.

He also said that Surin Champrinette had an unusually large penis because he'd injected it with olive oil to increase its size.

Fed up by the lack of progress and the media backlash his controversial statements were attracting, the senior investigating officer was removed from what the international press had scathingly dubbed a shambolic investigation.

A reward of 30,000 Thai baht, the equivalent of roughly £500

at the time, was offered to anyone who had information that could solve the case.

While not a significant amount by UK standards, the average monthly wage for a worker in Chiang Mai was around £8,000 baht or £130,

giving any locals who had information an attractive incentive to come forward.

While the police waited for the results of the second lot of DNA tests, they maintained that the case wasn't a difficult one to solve and it wouldn't be long before they detained those responsible.

Meanwhile, Kirstie Jones's body was flown back to Wales, where over 800 mourners gathered at a church near her family's farm to attend her funeral.

Among them were the parents of other backpackers who had died while traveling overseas.

While it was a hugely painful day for Kirstie's parents, they felt so proud of their daughter that so many people from all walks of life had taken the time to pay their respects to her.

After the service, they had a family friend read a statement on their behalf, which said,

The circumstances of Kirstie's death make coming to terms with her loss all the more difficult, and we hope and pray for a swift conclusion to the investigation in Thailand.

Kirstie was a wonderful daughter and we miss her terribly.

But she loved to travel and she made friends all over the world.

Her zest for life and her love will always live with us.

Kirstie's murder raised hot debate over the dangers of women traveling alone and called into question the overall safety of Thailand as a tourist destination.

British journalist Imogen Tilden had travelled solo through Thailand at a similar age to Kirstie and remembered the trip fondly.

She wrote an article for The Guardian arguing that Kirstie's tragic death shouldn't deter other young women from visiting the country, stating that while it was understandable that people would feel cautious, This was an isolated tragic incident, and it didn't mean that an evil murderer was now lurking in every hostel, preying on young women.

Imogen went on to explain,

An integral part of the delight of being in Southeast Asia is that the hostels don't have alarms and infra-red security systems, nor front doors with British standard five-bolt locks.

Travellers and locals alike are relaxed and friendly, and there is nothing of the barely suppressed aggression that seems to lurk in so many British cities.

In fact, I feel more threatened on my nightly walk home from the tube in South London.

Imogen said the experience of travelling alone was one of the best things she'd ever done as it gave her an enormous amount of confidence and courage.

I urge every woman to try it themselves and not succumb to what seems essentially a misogynist hysteria, she wrote.

If a young man had been found murdered, there would be no comment on his traveling companions or lack of them.

Back in Chiang Mai, the police were called to the Ari guesthouse after Surin Champranat's girlfriend Pantipa threatened to take her own life unless Suran was released from custody.

Pantipa had been insistent that Surin had nothing to do with Kirstie's death.

She claimed that he'd injured his back several years earlier and it impacted his ability to have sex.

With Surin in jail and the Ari empty of guests and massage students, Pantipa was struggling.

She already suffered from the detrimental effects of a brain injury she'd sustained years prior and now she had no income and no partner.

She wasn't even allowed to visit Surin in jail.

Her friends had also deserted her in a bid to distance themselves from the case and the prying reporters.

By the time police arrived at the RE, Pantipa had locked herself in her room and was crying hysterically.

Through the door, she said she couldn't take it anymore.

Suddenly, all the lights went off in the building.

Police broke down the door and found Pantipa hanging by the neck from a nylon rope.

She was released and rushed to hospital where she made a quick recovery.

A few days later, Pantipa spoke to journalist Pim Kemasinki about the hardships she'd faced in the wake of Kirstie's death.

It would be nice if people cared for the living as much as they do for the dead, she said.

On Thursday, August 31, the results of the second set of DNA tests were in.

Again, there were no matches.

For the first time since the investigation commenced 21 days earlier, the police were forced to admit that the case might not be as easy to solve as they initially thought.

One by one, each of the Ari suspects were officially ruled out and given their passports back, all except manager Surin Champranat.

Even though his DNA didn't match that found on Kirstie's body, police theorised that he could have been complicit in the crime, perhaps working in cahoots with members of a foreign mafia gang that had reportedly been operating out of the night market.

Then came another highly controversial theory.

According to the Chiang Mai police, it was possible that whoever had raped Kirstie had purchased semen from someone else and planted it at the scene to detract attention from themselves.

Apparently, this was something they'd seen done before.

As the chief of police explained on the documentary Murder in Paradise, investigators tested this theory by going out and seeing if it was possible to buy semen.

He confirmed, quote,

it was available.

There are people that will sell sperm, maybe a laborer or someone who needed cash fast, or a prostitute who had saved some from a previous client.

Rumors quickly began circulating that on the night of Kirstie's murder, a foreign man had paid a tuk-tuk driver for his semen.

The press quickly picked up on the story and newspapers ran wild with outrageous claims.

Journalists Pim Kamasinki and Andrew Drummond visited the professor of forensic medicine who had been working on Kirstie's case.

and asked him if the planted semen theory was plausible.

The professor immediately immediately dismissed the idea.

He explained that the deep penetration of the offender's DNA confirmed without a doubt that whoever had raped Kirsty had also killed her.

According to the professor, the evidence also indicated that only one person had been involved in the crime, and that person had undoubtedly been an Asian man.

With suspicion still on Surin Champrinette five weeks into the investigation, he came forward with a confession.

On the night of Kirstie's murder, Surin claimed that he'd seen a light on in her room.

Through twitching curtains, he caught a glimpse of a man's legs and face.

He thought he recognised the man, but it wasn't until Surin saw him leave the room that he knew for sure.

It was the Ari guest house owner, Andy Gill.

Police weren't sure what to make of Surin's claims, as he had a reputation for running his mouth.

But it gained credibility when Surin's girlfriend Pantipa began supporting his story.

A month into the investigation, Andy Gill was arrested and charged with conspiracy to rape and murder Kirstie Jones.

It was the first time such a charge had ever been made under Thai law, but given that none of Andy's DNA was found on Kirstie's body, police didn't have enough evidence for an outright murder charge.

Instead, they theorised that Andy could have acted with a Thai accomplice.

Alternatively, they considered whether Andy could have watched Kirstie have sex with another man and then slipped into her room and tried to make a move on her himself.

When she resisted his advances, he launched a violent attack and strangled her to death.

Andy Gill was transported to a prison in Bangkok.

Under Thai law, police had just 60 days to find his alleged co-conspirator.

After that, they either had to commit him to trial or let him go.

Regardless of this looming deadline, a spokesperson for the Chiang Mai police said,

We are confident we are on the right track.

There is no mystery anymore.

The stakes were high for Andy Gill.

If the charges against him proceeded to trial, a guilty verdict could result in a possible death sentence.

With the wheels of justice turning very slowly in Thailand, it could mean years in one of Bangkok's notoriously harsh prisons before the trial even went ahead.

From behind bars, Andy Gill vehemently denied having anything to do with Kirstie's rape or murder and remained steadfast that the only reason he'd fled after finding her body was that he panicked about his expired visa.

Those who knew Andy were shocked to discover that he'd been accused of the crime.

A friend of Andy's told the press,

This is unbelievable.

There is no way Andy did this.

This whole investigation has been a joke.

I know Andy well, and he is just not capable of doing it.

As the 60-day deadline loomed, the police failed to uncover any physical evidence to place Andy Gill or an alleged co-conspirator at the scene of Kirstie's murder.

Then, on Thursday, November 30, 12 days before the deadline, the charges against Andy were suddenly dropped and he was released released from prison.

The acting district attorney explained that the testimony provided by Surin Champrinet and his girlfriend Pantipa couldn't be relied on.

But journalist Andrew Drummond had been secretly following correspondence sent between Andy Gill and his father in the south of France.

He discovered that while Andy had been in prison, his father had sent four payments through to Andy's ex-wife in Chiang Mai, totalling £14,000.

One facts from Andy's dad to Andy's ex-wife said,

Here is the transmission note for the remainder of the money.

Hope it arrives soon and Andy will be out of their clutches sometime next week.

Andrew Drummond came to the conclusion that the £14,000 had been paid off to someone in the Chiang Mai court system to secure Andy Gill's freedom.

Although, according to Andrew, this wasn't a sign of guilt.

He told the documentary Murder in Paradise,

From my experience covering foreign cases, there is a demand for payment from one direction or another.

I've seen 20 British men charged with offences against young children in the last five years, but I've only seen one case get to court.

They've all got out and they've all paid money.

They've paid money to get off a charge they could have been jailed for.

I don't see this in the case of Andy Gill.

You can't say, well, that man's guilty because he's greasing palms.

He's doing it because he doesn't want to be in jail for five years on a charge in which he's not guilty.

Andy Gill admitted that the money had been used to get the charges against him dropped, but he claimed it had nothing to do with him being guilty.

He said he'd simply presented the prosecutor with his side of the story and let him come to his own conclusion.

Given that the courts had no evidence to uphold the charges anyway, they'd let Andy go.

Everything in Asia works through greasing the wheels, he explained.

Case file will be back shortly.

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With the charges against Andy Gill dropped and all other suspects being cleared by DNA, the investigation into Kirstie's murder was back to square one.

As the weeks turned into months, it looked less and less likely that the case would be solved.

Eventually, the one-year anniversary of the crime came and went with no breakthroughs.

In Wales, the Jones family tried to spend the day remembering Kirstie as she was when she was still alive, rather than focus on the tragic circumstances of her death.

Still, finding whoever was responsible remained paramount.

In a public statement, the Jones family said,

One day we hope to see justice done for the safety of other backpackers, but most importantly, for Kirstie.

Someone somewhere should pay the price for robbing us and Kirstie of what should have been a wonderful, happy life.

With no progress in the case by its one-year anniversary, investigators from Wales travelled to Chiang Mai to meet with the Thai authorities, only to be told that Kirstie's case had been closed.

After a, quote, considerable amount of negotiation, the Attorney General agreed to reopen the case with assistance from the Welsh Police.

The original team of Thai investigators were removed from the case and replaced by a new group of detectives.

Months later, in January 2002, the case was back in the headlines after it was revealed that two witnesses had come forward claiming that on the night of Kirstie's murder, they saw two men hanging around outside of the Ari guest house.

One of them was a high-ranking officer within the tourist police force, dressed in civilian clothing.

Unsubstantiated reports began appearing in Thai newspapers claiming that DNA supported the theory that Kirstie had been killed by a Thai policeman.

Some claimed that the initial investigation had been deliberately botched to protect the real offender.

as the truth would have a detrimental effect on the reputation of the Thai police force and, subsequently, the tourism industry.

At a press conference in Bangkok, the Welsh detectives refused to comment on this theory, with one remarking instead,

Despite the setbacks, I want to make the point that there are some very good policemen in Thailand who want to pursue the case properly and seem very willing to do so.

A Welsh reporter for the Western Mail newspaper said that it didn't matter whether or not the killer was a policeman because, quote,

the new allegation muddies the waters of an investigation already tar black with intrigue and tension.

It also adds almost intolerable pressure on the Royal Thai Police to gain a conviction at any price.

A number of exhibits taken from the crime scene were flown to the United Kingdom to be examined using the advanced technology available at the Forensic Science Service Laboratory.

At this stage, the DNA sample simply proved that Kirstie's killer had been a Southeast Asian male.

The UK forensic experts re-examined the sarong that had been used to strangle Kirstie and detected semen and skin cells that allowed them to provide a full DNA profile.

At the time, there was no centralised DNA database in Thailand for the authorities to test the profile against.

They compared it to the samples taken from the persons of interest in Kirstie's case, including the tourism police officer witnessed outside the RE.

There were no matches to any of them, except one.

While tour guide Narong Pojana Tamrong Pong had been cleared from the investigation, The DNA profile resembled his strongly enough to indicate that the killer could be one of his relatives, a member of the Karan Hill tribes.

Welsh police recommended that mass DNA screening be carried out within certain parameters in Chiang Mai.

With the regional police declining to do so, members of the press tried to track down any members of Narong's family who could possibly fit the profile of Kirstie's killer.

This line of inquiry seemingly fizzled out.

Then in April 2002, a year and a half after Kirstie's murder, came another twist.

Stories started circulating in the press that two trans women had come forward claiming that Surin Chan Pranet, the Ari guesthouse manager, had paid them to plant semen at the scene of the crime.

Thai investigators dismissed the claims as wild speculation, while Welsh detectives said the information was being received with caution.

They reiterated that the fluids found on Kirstie's body could only have come from the person who killed her.

By the third anniversary of Kirstie's murder, her family's heartache was as raw as ever.

We will never get over losing Kirstie, the Joneses said in a public statement.

We are trying to live without her and get on with our lives as best we can.

Some days this is easier said than done.

A young, beautiful, vibrant life has been lost and she is very much missed by so many.

Knowing there is someone somewhere responsible for Kirstie's death is never far from our minds.

Things in Thailand tend to move incredibly slowly, so we have to be patient.

We shall never give up hope of catching her killer.

This is the very least that Kirsty deserves.

Welsh detectives remained actively involved in the case and were confident that Kirstie's killer would be identified.

We have a piece of the killer and will always have that, one detective said.

We have the DNA profile of the person believed to be the offender.

and we are confident someone will match that profile and be brought to justice.

But the team was hindered by a lack of action from the Thai police.

As the years continued to pass without an arrest, it seemed like the Thai authorities only acted when pressure was placed on them by the UK police or foreign office.

Welsh police suggested several lines of inquiry that Thai investigators didn't follow up on, including the mass DNA screening in Chiang Mai as well as re-interviewing key witnesses.

Given that the Thai police remained in charge of the investigation, Welsh police felt as though their hands were tied.

In 2007, Welsh politician Roger Williams took the issue to Parliament, voicing the deep frustration that Kirstie Jones's family felt at the botched investigation and slow progress of the Thai authorities.

He stated,

The family and police do not have unrealistic expectations of the Thai authorities.

All they ask is for a methodical and professional investigation of what is a very detectable crime.

I ask the Minister to use all the facilities at the disposal of the Foreign Office to encourage the Thai authorities not to give up on this case, for the sake of the family and the safety of young people travelling in Thailand.

Sue Jones described her family's experience of dealing with foreign law enforcement to Wales Online.

Unless you are in this situation, you don't realise what it is like, she said.

You automatically think that someone will be holding your hand, but that is not the case.

You have to work it out as you go along.

It is extremely frustrating for us because we fire questions at the Thai authorities through the Foreign Office and anything they don't want to answer, they will just avoid.

Their way of doing things is completely different and we have to understand that.

But it is hard to be patient.

The investigation seemingly went nowhere until over a decade later in 2011, when a mysterious video popped up on video sharing website YouTube from an Australian retiree living in Chiang Mai.

Identifying himself only by the username Mr.

AJP Allen, the man claimed he knew the identity of the second man who had been seen loitering around outside the Ari guesthouse with the tourist police officer on the night of Kirsty Jones' murder.

According to Mr.

AJP Allen, it was a Thire professor who worked at Chiang Mai University and also happened to be the younger brother of the police officer.

Speaking to the camera in a deliberately clear and slow manner, Alan said,

The Department of Special Investigations has all the details, but will not act just in case I am wrong.

I won't be taking this off the internet until the British Embassy oversees a DNA test on this lecturer from the university.

When the Jones family were made aware of this allegation, all they could do was hope that the professor in question would be subject to a DNA test.

Obviously, if it is him, that will be a good thing, Sue Jones told BBC News.

If it isn't, it eliminates him from the investigation.

A detective from the Welsh Police told Wales Online that while the YouTube video wasn't evidence itself, it was still a viable line of inquiry and they felt it was important to rule it out.

It is not about solving it for us, he said.

It is about solving it for the Jones family and for Kirsty.

She is the one who deserves to have the truth, and we will leave no stone unturned until every line of inquiry is exhausted.

When no breakthroughs came by August 2012, Sue Jones flew to Thailand ahead of the 12-year anniversary of Kirstie's death to announce a £10,000 reward for information that led to an arrest.

For the first time, she also visited the Ari guesthouse and saw the room in which her daughter was murdered.

At an emotional press conference, Sue said,

I am convinced there is someone who has information that could lead to the arrest of the person who took away my daughter's life.

With the passing of time, people's loyalties change and relationships end, which may remove any previous reluctance to come forward.

Something small which may seem irrelevant at the time could now be significant and add new pieces to the jigsaw that the police already have.

That same year, the DNA profile of Kirstie's killer was run through Thailand's National DNA database.

Established in 2004, it contained profiles from around 80,000 individuals, including victims of the devastating Boxing Day tsunami that had killed over 5,000 people in Thailand.

There were no matches.

In turn, Sue Jones made a Freedom of Information request to the Foreign Office seeking all of the documents they had in relation to Kirstie's death.

She was told they couldn't release any material that could jeopardise or hurt their relations with Thailand.

While it was their job to help any family concerned about a death overseas, they weren't allowed to interfere with any criminal investigations that took place outside of the UK.

In the documents they did provide, many of the names had been deleted.

Convinced that the officials had consistently prioritised foreign relations over her quest for answers, Sue told Wales Online,

I'm pretty sure somebody knows what happened.

They're probably too afraid to say anything or it's somebody in authority, but I'm 99% sure somebody knows.

In 2014, Thailand's police force was back under international scrutiny after British backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were found murdered on the island of Katau.

As covered in episode 220 of Case File, the investigation into Hannah and David's death sparked major allegations of police corruption and cover-ups after the two prime suspects, both Burmese migrants, claimed police had tortured them into making false confessions.

In the years that followed, several other cases emerged involving foreigners who died under mysterious circumstances on the island.

While most of the deaths were declared accidents or suicides by the Thai authorities, it put the Jones family onto a growing list of grieving families who called into question the way Thai police handled serious crimes against tourists.

For Kirstie's family, each year that passed without a breakthrough in the case wasn't just painful and frustrating, it was a race against the clock.

In Thailand, a 20-year statute of limitations exists on murder convictions.

This meant that if Kirstie's case wasn't solved within that timeframe, a prosecution wouldn't be possible, even if new evidence became available.

As this deadline approached, Kirstie's family did everything they could think of to try and keep the Thai authorities interested in Kirstie's case.

Despite all the hurdles they'd faced over the years, they'd always remained positive that something good would come out of the investigation eventually and someone would be punished for Kirstie's murder.

As Sue explained to Wales Online,

You have to remain positive, because if you don't, you might as well give up.

But that positivity became difficult to maintain as the 20-year statute loomed.

In 2017, Welsh politician Chris Davies asked then Prime Minister Theresa May to step in and help the Jones family.

He urged,

I ask the Prime Minister to push the Thai authorities to use recently improved DNA techniques to bring the killer to justice, to endeavour to provide more support for families who have lost loved ones abroad, and finally, to ensure that Kirstie's personal effects at last return back home to her parents from Thailand.

The Prime Minister offered her condolences to the Jones family, but said it was not the place for the British government to interfere with police investigations that take place in another country.

Kirstie's case was due to be closed on Monday, August 10, 2020.

Her loved ones, as well as those who had been following the case since the beginning, could do little but hope that a new witness or some DNA evidence unexpectedly came to light.

Welsh television presenter Jonathan Hill had travelled to Thailand with Sue Jones back in 2012 when they announced the £10,000 reward for information.

He'd been deeply impacted by the determination the Jones family had to see justice for their daughter.

Jonathan told ITV News,

Be in no doubt that this case is solvable.

A targeted DNA screening of a local man in Chiang Mai would probably have revealed the killer's identity, but the case was always uncomfortable for the Thai authorities, and no doubt, There will be those who would rather it be consigned to history.

Case closed.

What is striking about the last two decades is how Sue Jones has conducted herself with such a dignity.

She never wavered from her promise to get justice for Kirstie, and there can be no better demonstration of a mother's love for her daughter.

Crushingly, The 20-year statute of limitations came with none of the answers Kirstie's family so desperately sought.

Sue told BBC News,

Kirstie has gone from our lives whilst her killer remains at large.

Had they been brought to justice, the sadness and emptiness would remain the same, but it may have brought us some closure.

I hope we have done her proud in trying to get justice.

While Kirsty's case may have closed without answers, she is never far from Sue's mind.

Staying in contact with Kirstie's friends via social media, it cuts Sue up inside to see them all grow up, get married and have kids of their own.

She couldn't help but wonder what Kirstie's future would have been like if her life hadn't been so tragically cut short.

You think would she be married now, Sue pondered to Wales Online.

Would she have kids?

Would she be on the other side of the world working or traveling?

Despite all the horrors her family had endured in the wake of Kirstie's murder, there was one thing Sue was certain of.

When she traveled to Thailand for the first time, she could see why Kirstie had fallen in love with the place.

It really is paradise, she told the Daily Mirror.

The people were lovely.

They couldn't do enough for us.

You can't ride off an entire country because of something bad that once happened there.

The last thing Sue wanted was for Kirstie's death to deter any other young people from traveling.

Travel made Kirstie street-wise, confident and ready for the challenges life could throw at her, she said.

I'd hate to think her death would stop anyone fulfilling their dreams of seeing the world.

It was a sentiment she'd felt strongly about since the very beginning.

As Sue told the BBC after Kirsty's body was found, she had every doubt in the world about her daughter travelling the world on her own.

Regardless, Sue said she never would have stopped her.

It's what she wanted to do, Sue stated.

She wouldn't have been happy doing anything else.

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