Appeal launched by killers of Leeds Uni student in Thailand
Lawyers have appealed against the conviction of two migrant workers sentenced to death for the murder of two British backpackers on a Thai holiday island.
Lawyers have appealed against the conviction of two migrant workers sentenced to death for the murder of two British backpackers on a Thai holiday island.
The bodies of Hannah Witheridge and Leeds University student David Miller were found on a beach on Koh Tao in September 2014.
Ms Witheridge, 23, had been raped and bludgeoned to death while Mr Miller, 24, had suffered blows to his head.
Myanmar migrant workers Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun were sentenced to death after being convicted last year.
Now a 198-page appeal has been filed saying that DNA evidence used in the case was flawed and inadmissible.
Lawyers say it was not collected, tested, analysed or reported in accordance with internationally accepted standards.
The documents add that their questioning and charging was not done with a lawyer present.
They said confessions which were later retracted were obtained using torture or abuse.
Police in Thailand have denied mishandling evidence, and say the confessions were not extracted under duress.
Previously, they have been widely criticised for their handling of the case and the evidence, with some believing the two workers were scapegoats.
The mothers of the two convicted killers visited them on death row on Monday, before accompanying the lawyers to court.
The defence's head lawyer Nakhon Chompuchat said: "We have submitted this to the appeal court so they can understand more, so they can see the importance on how death sentence decision needs to be perfectly clear.
"We don't have new evidence, we are basing this on evidence that was presented earlier."
The court is likely to rule on the appeal next year.