A German whose Thai wife had recently left him after 21 years together was found dead after a fire destroyed their house in Kanchanaburi on Monday morning.

Police identified the dead man as 63-year-old Uwe Albrecht. He was found hanging from the fence of the house.

There was a painted message on a wall, saying, "21-year cheating but never enough, f*** you".

The man's wife, Kamolwan Albrecht, 60, said that her husband lived with her for 21 years, police said.

According to Mrs Kamolwan, she went to live in Kanchanaburi's Phanom Thuan district last month, leaving her husband to live alone in the house.

Police think that Albrecht decided to set the house on fire and hang himself because he was hurt when his wife left him on his own.

The man's body was sent for post-mortem examination to determine whether he committed suicide or was murdered.

Neighbours told police the dead man had lived in the house for about 10 years with his Thai wife. Lately, the wife only visited him once in a while.

They said that shortly before 3.30am they heard three or four loud explosions inside the house. They went outside to look and saw the house on fire. They called the police.

When firemen and police examined the second floor, they found two 15-kilogramme gas cylinders, each ringed with four burned car tyres.

They think that the German set fire to the car tyres, intending to burn down the house, before going downstairs to hang himself.