Death sentence for Horton accused

SURAT THANI - Two Thai fishermen were sentenced to death yesterday for the rape and murder of British student Katherine Horton after an unusually short trial and sustained political pressure.

"The court has ruled them guilty of all the crimes they were charged with and imposes the maximum penalty," Judge Jamnong Sudjaimai told the two men in a packed courtroom in the southern province of Surat Thani.

Bualoi Posit, 23, and Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24, arrested 11 days ago, pleaded guilty last Thursday to charges of rape, pre-meditated murder and hiding the corpse of 21-year-old Horton on the resort island of Samui.

Police say the pair had watched pornographic movies on their boat before swimming ashore to rape Horton, who was on holiday from her studies at Reading University near London.

- REUTERS