DNA 'planted' at Thai murder scene

Kirsty Jones's murderer has still not been found

Police in Thailand hunting the killer of a backpacker from mid Wales say two transvestites have admitted planting false DNA at the murder scene.

Kirsty Jones, 23, from Brecon, was found dead at a guest house in the northern city of Chiang Mai on August 10, 2000.

The Jones case is very complex and has many plots like a suspense murder fiction, but clues are turning up and we are making progress

Thai Police Colonel Dinai Boonruang

The UK Foreign Office was seeking clarification of this latest revelation, which contradicts evidence gathered by Dyfed-Powys detectives who believed bodily fluids found at the scene of the crime were those of the killer.

It follows a declaration by Thai police on Friday that they had identified a prime suspect in the long-running and heavily criticised investigation.

The new theory is one of many presented in the Thai investigation which has been called a shambles by the British authorities.

Cover-up alleged

Thai police said transvestites Jessada Wiriyasakul, 28, and Cha Kesarachai, 26, confessed that they had been hired by guest house manager Surin Janpamet to find false DNA to place at the scene to cover up for the killer.

Andrew Gill, the British-born owner of the Aree Guest house, was originally charged with conspiracy to murder with a person unknown.

Murder scene evidence has been DNA tested

But he was later released when his DNA did not match DNA found at the scene.

A British Embassy official said on Saturday that the latest Thai police statement, published in Bangkok newspaper The Nation, was being received "with caution".

A meeting would be held with the Royal Thai Police next week.

Thai Police Colonel Dinai Boonruang was quoted in the newspaper article as saying the arrest of the transvestites was "very useful" and would soon lead them to the killer.

The murder took place in Chiang Mai

He added: "The Jones case is very complex and has many plots like a suspense murder fiction, but clues are turning up and we are making progress.

"We believe many people were involved in the murder."

The latest theory contradicts evidence presented by Superintendent Steve Wilkins of Dyfed-Powys Police, who returned the results of British DNA tests to Thai police in February.

In a presentation, Superintendent Wilkins said the bodily fluids found at the scene could only have been those of Kirsty's rapist and killer.