British man reveals ‘gangsters’ threatened him on party island Koh Tao

THAILAND’s Koh Tao has become notorious for a spate of suspicious tourist deaths. Now one man has come forward with a bone-chilling near-miss story.

THE mystery surrounding a string of tourist deaths on a Thai holiday isle has deepened after claims it is run by a powerful mafia that threatened to hang a British backpacker.

Koh Tao – dubbed “death island” — has seen seven foreigners die in mysterious circumstances over the past three years.

Apart from the murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller in 2014, the rest have been written off by local cops as suicides or accidents, reports The Sun.

But a disturbing claim has now emerged that police on the island are controlled by a powerful criminal family.

Locals speaking on condition of anonymity revealed the gang has a vice-like grip over the island, where people are afraid to speak out, according to the Independent.

Police investigating the killings of Ms Witheridge and Mr Miller were initially probing rumours the pair had argued with a Thai man in a bar before they were found dead.

Two Burmese men were eventually convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but some have claimed the pair were made convenient scapegoats.

And a British friend of one of the murder victims told how local gangsters threatened to hang him and frame him for the killings in the days after the deaths.

Sean McAnna, a British backpacker who alleges he was chased by Thai Mafia who tired to frame him for the murder of two British backpackers murdered on the island. Picture: Mirrorpix/australscope

Sean McAnna, then 25, of Shotts, Lanarkshire, told The Sun that the men – who overheard him discussing the killings in a bar – said they would make his death look like suicide.

He revealed: “They just said to me, ‘We know you killed them. You’re going to hang yourself tonight and we are going to watch you hang. You will die tonight’. So I just ran.”

The men chased Sean into a supermarket where he posted on Facebook: “Thai mafia are trying to kill me, please help.”

Sean added: “I genuinely thought I was going to die. They would have taken me up into the hills to hang me and make it look like it was a suicide.

“I think they needed a scapegoat. I think they might know who the killers are.

“They need a scapegoat and they don’t want it to be locals. They want it to be a westerner.

“So if I kill myself here then it is easy to say, ‘See, it was him’.”

Sean said police were eventually called and escorted him to his hotel – but he fled fearing police may be corrupt and reveal where he was staying, reported The Sun.

He said he hid in the jungle for the rest of the night before boarding a boat off the island to safety.

Elise Dallemagne found dead on Koh Tao, Thailand - police believe it was suicide but her mother believes otherwise. Picture: Facebook

Party island Koh Tao, Thailand, has been dubbed ‘Death Island’.

But the threats he claimed to have received in September 2014 were a chilling echo of what was to befall others over the following three years.

Belgian backpacker Elise Dallemagne, 30, was found hanged in the hills on the island on April 28 this year.

It was recently reported she had used a false name and refused to give her passport number when checking in to a hotel on the last night she was seen alive.

A mysterious fire is said to have broken out in her room later that evening and she fled the hotel before her body was found in the jungle a week later.

Her death was ruled a suicide but her parents insist police were wrong and she had not killed herself.

Frenchman Dimitri Povse, 29, was also found hanged on the island on New Year’s Day 2015.

His death too was ruled a suicide but police could not explain why his hands were tied behind his back.

And just eight months before Sean’s terrifying run-in with the mafia, 25-year-old Nick Pearson, from Derby, was found floating in the sea at the foot of a 50ft drop.

Despite claims of a fall, he had no broken bones. Cops ruled out foul play but Nick’s family, who say officers did not investigate a single witness, believe he was murdered.

David Miller and Hannah Witheridge were killed in 2014.

Christina Annesley, 23, from Orpington, South East London, was said to have died of natural causes after mixing antibiotics she was taking for a chest infection with alcohol.

But no toxicology report was conducted and her suspicious loved ones slammed the investigation.

And Luke Miller, from Newport, Isle of Wight, was found at the bottom of a swimming pool at the Sunset Bar at Sairee Beach on the island on January 8, 2016.

Since his death, his family have accused cops of trying to cover it up

A coroner ruled last month – based on Thai police reports – that there was “no evidence” to suggest Luke was murdered.

But his mum Sara Cotton said: “There are far too many inconsistencies in the police reports.

“We know what happened and we will continue to fight for justice. Luke was unlawfully killed.”

This article was originally published on The Sun and is republished here with permission.