A British man, 62, was arrested in Kanchanaburi province for quick repatriation as he was suspected of killing his Thai wife in his homeland over two decades ago.
Immigration police and officials of the Department of Special Investigation arrested David Stuart Armitage at house no. 46/1 in tambon Nong Bua of Muang district, Kanchanaburi, on Thursday afternoon as he was wanted in Britain for allegedly killing his Thai wife Lamduan Seekanya in 2004.
Sources said that immigration police revoked his stay in Thailand in order to speed up his repatriation process. He was being held at the Immigration Bureau in Bangkok pending his deportation.
The Thai woman was found dead in a stream in the Yorkshire Dales on Sept 20, 2004. Hikers discovered the body near Pen-y-ghent, about 65 kilometres northwest of Leeds.
The corpse was discovered face-down in a stream wearing only socks and jeans. A ripped bra hung from her left arm, and a T-shirt was found nearby. Her shoes were never recovered.
Local people paid for her burial in the churchyard in Horton-in-Ribblesdale and she became known as “The Lady of the Hills”.
A cold case review was started in 2016 and scientific advances meant police were able to piece together a more detailed picture of who she was and came to the conclusion she had been murdered.
In 2019, there was a major breakthrough when Lamduan's parents in Udon Thani read a BBC story about the case and believed the woman could be their daughter, who vanished in 2004. DNA testing subsequently confirmed Lamduan’s identity.
Lamduan met Mr Armitage in Chiang Mai while he was teaching English. After getting married in Thailand, they moved to Britain in 1991 and had been living in northern England before her death.