British man accused of kicking Thai wife to death for refusing sex, dies in prison from mysterious injuries
A British man, accused of murdering his much younger wife by strangling and kicking her to death in 2018, has died after ending up with multiple mysterious injuries in the Thailand prison he was being held. The reason why he murdered his wife was that she refused him sex.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that the body of the British man, identified as Kevin Smitham, was found all the way at the base of Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani Central Prison. The 51-year-old father of two, who is originally from Nottingham, was awaiting trial for the brutal murder of his 29-year-old wife, Kandra Smitham, on April 15 last year.
At the time of Kandra's murder, the couple and their two children had been visiting Kandra's parents in Ubon Ratchathani, which is in Northeast Thailand, for the Songkran New Year festival. Kandra's body was found by neighbors on April 16 when they saw her lying covered in a blanket outside the home. Police believe Kevin attacked her, covered her body, and then went to bed.
Kevin was arrested and held in custody, but in August 2018, he was discovered with fatal injuries, near an outbuilding on the perimeter of the prison in August last year. He died later in the hospital, but it is still unknown how he ended up with those injuries. According to Daily Mail, the FCO confirmed his death this week, and one of their spokespersons said: "Our staff is providing support and advice to the family of a British man who died in Thailand in August 2018, and they remain in touch with local authorities." Reportedly, the couple had lived together in the popular Pattaya beach resort on the east coast, where Kandra was a well-known fitness enthusiast with a Facebook page that has over 28,000 followers.
Inspector General Watcharapol Pimwong, Deputy Chief of Staff in the Det Udom district, said at the time: "I arrived and found a woman lying naked in front of the house and called officials from the rescue foundation. The woman was Kandra Smitham, age 29. The victim had a blanket covering her. There were many bruises on the face and body. She had been dead for several hours. The victim's husband confessed to killing his wife. He said that he did not mean to kill her."
Pimwong continued, saying: "Last night he and his wife had beer until late at night. He went to sleep in the house. During the drinking and eating, suddenly they started arguing because he wanted to have sex. His wife refused and this caused jealousy. He thought that the wife had been courting other men. He said he attacked her with his foot, kicked her to the face and body several times. The wife ran away from the home and fell in front of the house. He left his wife like that by covering the blanket to cover it. Then went to bed."