Girl suspected of luring British boy to his death in Thai forest found dead in woods herself, as father reveals agony
13 May 2023, 14:04 | Updated: 13 May 2023, 14:25
A girl who allegedly lured a British teenage boy to his death in a Thai forest has been found dead herself, police have said.
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Suraphltchaya Khamsa, 15, was found in a shallow grave three miles from where Woramet Ben Taota, 16, was discovered last Saturday.
Chaiwat Boongarin, a 44-year-old sex offender, claimed he hit Taota with a stick when a drug deal went wrong, according to Thai police.
But he has denied killing Khamsa, although officers are treating him as a suspect.
Boongarin claimed that Taota and Khamsa, were involved in drug running for him, and the pair stole the drugs from him.
Khamsa is accused of luring Taota to the forest, where Boongarin allegedly beat him to death.
Boongarin has previous convictions for sex crimes and is now in custody in the Mae Tha district.
Mongkol Sampawapol, the commander of Lampang Provincial Police, said: "Police received intelligence gathered from the search operation about the location of the body.
"The suspect who admitted to killing the boy denies killing the girl."He says that somebody else attacked her and buried her body in the woods.
"We suspect that the suspect is responsible for both murders, however, police will also continue investigating the deaths to check if anybody else was involved.
"The female victim's body is now being sent to hospital for an autopsy to find traces of rape or sexual assault, because the suspect has a history of these crimes.
"There were signs of bruising on her face and it is expected that she was hit with a solid object until she died."
Officers had earlier found Ben's girlfriend, Yam.
CCTV footage emerged showing the last sighting of Taota in his hometown of Lampang on Saturday, the day before his body was found. According to reports, Boongarin became very angry and hit the boy to death with a piece of wood because he believed Taota stole something and was lying.
Dual national Taota borrowed his mother's blue scooter and was seen riding with a girl on the back before he was found dead the next day in Lampang province on May 7. His body was later found in a grove, with injuries resembling blunt force.
Ben's grandmother, Lilian Graham, told The Sun that she believes he was persuaded to go to the forest where he was murdered. She said: 'Ben was with a girl and they went to the forest to meet a man. But something must have happened. And the man killed Ben. They don't know what has happened to the girl.'
Ben's father, Steven Graham, a businessman who runs a thatched property insurance firm, has flown to Thailand to speak to detectives there. The police believe the suspect is involved in drug dealing in the area, and have suggested that the teenager might have been robbed.
He told Mail Online: "Ben was lured to meet his killer in some kind of honey trap set by this young girl. She is only 15. She and Ben have known each other since they were young. They were close.
"But she is believed to have been in a relationship with this man [Boongarin].
"He had recently been released from prison and it is clear he was a prolific drug dealer. A very evil man."
Ben's grandmother Lilian Graham told reporters that she believes he was persuaded to go to the forest where he was murdered.
Speaking from the family home in Eastbourne, East Sussex, Mrs Graham said: "Ben was with a girl and they went to the forest to meet a man.
"But something must have happened. And the man killed Ben. They don't know what has happened to the girl."
Mrs Graham added: "It's been a real shock. We are all devastated. Ben's father Steve is going to Thailand tonight. I wanted to go out there with him to support him. But he wouldn'tlet me. He said the flight was too long and it would be too upsetting."
