PM demands sentencing review after “Jack the Ripper” serial killer case

Thai PM Prayuth Chan-o-cha is ordering the justice minister to re-examine Thailand’s rules regarding sentence reductions and parole for violent criminals, after convicted serial killer Somkid Pumpuang, dubbed “Thailand’s Jack the Ripper,” was released from prison. He’s now the major suspect in another murder last Sunday, just seven months later after being released.

“We have to be updated as the world moves forward, and look at other countries’ laws and measures. Many have been monitoring our justice system. We have to correct what is wrong by working together.”

Somkid was convicted in 2005 of the murders of five women and sentenced to life in prison, but was released in May for “good behaviour”. His local nickname of ‘Jack the Ripper’ doesn’t correlate very well with other the scope or methods used by the infamous, and still unidentified, London serial killer from the 1880s.

Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. In both the criminal case files and contemporary journalistic accounts, the killer was called the Whitechapel Murderer and Leather Apron.

Overcrowding remains a serious problem in Thai prisons, and Thailand has one of the largest prison populations in the world, with nearly 80% jailed for drug offences. The number of prisoners reached an all time high earlier this year, according to AFP.

The alleged killer Somkid is still on the run.

SOURCE: The Nation