Expat murder in Thailand

A BRITISH music teacher was found brutally murdered in the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai early today.

The body of David Crisp, 56, was found shortly after 10am at his home on the Lakeland Estate. Police Colonel Pattipol Serichainchana said: "He had beaten about the head with a teak mug. His throat had also been cut with a six-inch knife and the murderer tried to finish the act off by smothering him in a cloth which covered his piano."

Police suspect the killer was a member of the Shan, a hill tribe which straddles the Burma-Thai border, as he appears to have performed a ritual invoking animist spirits. Before leaving the murder scene, he smashed a ceiling light - a custom which Shan criminals believe puts police off their trail.

Mr Crisp, who was born in Derby, drove a BMW 5 series and a classic Citroen and was director of a choral society known as the "Spirit House" singers. His housekeeper Prinjai Saedin, 73, said the Briton often visited gay bars and on Tuesday brought home a young man who has not been seen since.