Briton arrested in love triangle slaying

PHUKET: Police arrested a British diving instructor at Phuket International Airport yesterday as he was about to flee the island on charges of strangling and stabbing his Thai girlfriend in a love-triangle murder. Police said that Mark Leighton Storey, 48, confessed he had killed his girlfriend after discovering there was another man in her life. The woman, Rattanaporn Pimkot, 30, of Phra Barami Rd, Patong, died yesterday afternoon on the way to Patong Hospital and police made the arrest at the airport soon afterwards. Pol Lt Col Pisit Chunphet of Kathu Police Station said, “The suspect and his girlfriend lived in a rented house for three months. Witnesses told us that yesterday they heard an argument, then saw the suspect leave with his luggage. They found the woman and took her to hospital.” Police said that Storey confessed that he confronted K. Rattanaporn about her Thai lover and they fought. He strangled her, first with his hands and then with a telephone wire, and then stabbed her with a kitchen knife. He then headed for the airport.