Luke Miller’s family vow to get justice after he was found dead in Koh Tao

Luke Miller, a bricklayer, was found dead at the bottom of a swimming pool on Sairee Beach, he had spent the previous evening with friends.

The post mortem in Thailand revealed that he had suffered head injuries and drowned, however the UK Home Office examination described the cause of death as unascertained.

Koh Tao has gained a bad reputation for unexplained deaths in recent years. Luke’s death came only mothers after the grisly murders of British backpackers Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24 British Christina Annesley, 23, was also found dead on the island in 2015, another Brit, Nick Pearson died in mysterious circumstances in 2014, neither Christina’s family or that of Nick were satisfied with the police investigation.

Questions were asked over the death of Dimitri Povse on 2015, when he was found hanged with his hands tied behind his back. This year Russian Valentina Novozhyonova went missing, never to be seen again. The seemingly endless and often unexplained deaths have led to the island being dubbed ‘Death Island’.

Nicola and James Gissing, who were holidaying with Luke when he died made exhaustive efforts to get information from the Thai police. Mr Gissing and other friends of Mr Miller are convinced he was murdered. Luke’s family have been supported by the Island-based Lucie Blackman Trust in their quest for information.

Matt Searle, the chief executive of the trust which supports families of those missing or who have died abroad, was at the inquest with the family including Luke’s mum, Sara, and his stepfather Mike Cotton.

Mr Searle said after the inquest: “This case highlights the difference in the way cases are investigated in this country and in Thailand where the police are under-funded and often seemingly disinterested.