Police hunt for novice monk in tourist murder

BANGKOK, Dec 21 (AFP) – Thai police said Tuesday they were hunting for a 14-year-old novice monk allegedly involved in the brutal murder and suspected rape of an Australian tourist in the southern beach resort of Krabi. Police Major Khejorn Siriwan said warrants had been issued for the novice and a 19-year-old man over the murder of Cheree Cobcroft, 24, from Sydney. “The boy was a novice monk until just a few days before the murder … we are searching for him and his older friend,” said Kehjorn. He said an autopsy was being carried out in Bangkok to determine if the victim had been sexually assaulted. Cobcroft’s body was found Friday, naked and tied to a stake with a belt, in bushes near a Krabi temple where she had gone to watch locals make daily alms offerings to monks. An Australian embassy spokesman said Cobcroft had been living in Britain for a number of years and was holidaying in Thailand before planning to head back to her home in New South Wales for Christmas. In 1996, another former monk was sentenced to death for the murder and attempted rape of a British tourist who was visiting Thailand’s northwest on the last stop of a round-the-world tour.