Our daughter died in sinister spate of ‘Death Island’ tragedies – was it tragic accident or murder by mafia psychopaths?
DESPITE its flawless beaches and crystal seas, Thailand has earned a deadly reputation after 60 Brits died there between 2014 and 2016 alone.
And at least six young Brits have all died in suspicious circumstances on the small island of Koh Tao, leading their loved ones to label it "Death Island".
In a new Sky documentary, Death On The Beach, families open up on how they believe Thai police covered up what really happened to their loved ones.
And, while the Tuwichian family - who are “like the Mafia” in Koh Tao - have always denied playing any part in these deaths, many of the parents are certain they had something to do with their children suddenly dying.
Spate of suspicious deaths
Christina Annesley, 23, was one of the many young Brits who sadly died in Koh Tao.
She was found dead in her bungalow with a mix of medication and alcohol in her system in 2015 - leading the coroner to ascertain she died of an accidental overdose.
But delays by the Thai authorities in finding Christina’s body and glaring gaps in the investigation left her parents convinced there was more to discover about how their beloved daughter died.
Chrissie’s heartbroken dad Boyne Annesley started investigating more deaths in Koh Tao.
These included backpackers Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, who were found murdered on the beach, in September 2014.
Ben Harrington, a 32-year-old British IT consultant, died on the island in 2012, while British backpackers Nick Pearson and Luke Miller - along with Belgian Elise Dellemange, Swiss Hans Peter Suter and French Dimitri Povse - were also found dead in a separate incident.
As the deaths on the island began to spread and the devastated families left behind began to chatter among themselves, the rumours began to tell a darker side to the story.
Boyne said: “We knew nothing about Thailand being a corrupt place. A hell of a lot of people died on Koh Tao, I didn’t realise how many.
“I just think they don’t want you to find out. You can imagine when you’ve just lost a child you’re not really in the frame of mind to challenge that — it’s very raw and you don’t think about it.";
'The authorities are corrupt'
Boyne believes that, following the other unexplained deaths on Koh Tao, there is a "serial killer family" that “remains free to rape and murder”.
He says: “I don’t believe we’ll ever find out what happened to her. There’s no proof because you can’t get proof because the authorities are corrupt.”
University graduate Chrissie was two weeks into a four-month backpacking trip round South East Asia when she was found dead on the beach in January 2015.
Her death came shortly after she’d posted on Twitter saying she had bought antibiotics for a chest infection and her mum originally said her death had been due to natural causes.
However, after claims of withheld CCTV footage and inconclusive blood samples, Boyne isn't completely convinced.
There was also a mysterious Swedish man who cropped up in the police report, apparently with Chrissie the night she died.
Boyne and his wife found him and got hold of him through social media, and their phone conversation is played in the documentary.
"We were drinking together but she didn’t take any drugs," he tells them.
"I was reading the Thai news about what the cops were saying. But she didn’t take any tablets. That’s bulls**t.
";She was fine. She was normal. She was speaking about writing about the other people who died on the beach. And I said to her, it’s not good to speak about the politics in Koh Tao because the cops are corrupt."
To top that off, a German couple later told Boyne that they heard screaming coming from Chrissie's room - however, this was the night after she was pronounced dead.
Boyne said: “In the back of my mind I had a feeling there might be something wrong. Now I’m really suspicious.
“They didn’t find Christina for 24 hours and she’d been lying in the heat."
He had been told by someone on the island that Christina had been killed because “she was going around asking questions [about former deaths on the island] and taking photos of the beach.
"She was told she shouldn’t be doing that because it is dangerous,” he adds.
The 'Mafia' Tuwichian family
Boyne and other parents of loved ones who'd died in Koh Tao were all contacted by Suzanne Buchanan, a British journalist who lived in Thailand.
In the documentary, Suzanne speaks of the Tuwichian family, who she claims are "like the Mafia in Koh Tao".
She claims her friend witnessed the owner of the biggest diving company on the island "assassinated in broad daylight" by someone in relation to this family, and says they are "above the law" in Thailand.
When British backpackers David Miller and Hannah Witheridge were murdered, two Burmese men Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were arrested - and later found guilty.
But Suzanne believes they were set up, after seeing one of the Tuwichian sons in a photo at the crime scene.
"They're the most powerful family on the island," she saays. "They could easily bribe the police.
"They own the island. Who's going to arrest them?"
Suzanne believes the Tuwichian family and the Thai police covered up what really happened to all these British tourists - killed because they were asking questions.
The Tuwichian family have always denied this.
But Boyne clearly believes Suzanne - who eventually set up a Facebook group to connect all the families who have lost loved ones in Koh Tao.
Still searching for answers all this time later, he is seen in the documentary going to a toxicologist “for a second opinion” - as he continuously comments that it was strange Chrissie was “found with blood emanating from her nose”, despite dying of an overdose.
“I’ll never stop looking for answers until the person responsible for her death is brought to justice,” he says.
Chrissie had been writing on her Twitter that she was taking tramadol for a sore throat - and it’s easy to get it over the counter in Thailand.
And after looking at the report, the toxicologist confirms it’s possible to have blood coming from your nose if you’ve overdosed.
He adds: “The implication is she’s taken lots of diazepane, alcohol, tramadol, and died of an overdose.
“I’m not sure tramadol should be available over the counter, if you take too much it’ll definitely kill you.”
On finding out this information, Boyne says: “If that’s the case it would’ve been a very peaceful death.
“I hope that’s the case but I don’t think that’s the way she died.
“It’s hard to explain because I’d be annoyed at Chrissy if she even took an accidental overdose. I’d think, ‘What a waste.’”
He finishes: “If by some miracle I get all the answers, I’d feel relieved in one sense but empty in another sense.
“I sometimes think Chrissy would say, ‘Let it go, Dad,’ but it’s the love for her that drives me.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
I’ll keep asking questions until the day I die.”
Death On The Beach is on Sky on Sunday.