Thailand backpacker murders: Accused denied police report

The men accused of killing two British tourists on a Thai island have failed in their bid to see a confidential Metropolitan Police report.

Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo deny murdering Hannah Witheridge, 23, of Norfolk, and David Miller, 24, from Jersey.

Their bodies were found on a beach on Koh Tao in September 2014.

Lawyers for the accused asked a British court to order disclosure of a police report in the hope that it might help their defence, but this was refused.

Rejecting the application, Mr Justice Green, sitting at the High Court in London, said: "There is nothing in the report which is exculpatory or would be of material assistance to the claimants in the operation of their defence in the course of the trial."

The report was prepared to reassure the families of Miss Witheridge, from Hemsby, and Mr Miller about the Thai authorities' investigation into the deaths.

The prosecution told the trial, which started last month, that there was a DNA match between samples found on Miss Witheridge's body and the two defendants and this was central to its case.

Defence lawyers had asked for the samples to be independently verified but have now been told there is nothing left of them to re-test.

Police have, however, agreed to hand over the garden hoe which was the murder weapon, along with a shoe and a plastic bag.

The discovery of the bodies sparked a major police investigation and intense local and international pressure to find those responsible.

Mr Zaw and Mr Wai (also known as Win Zaw Htun), both 22 and migrants from Myanmar, also known as Burma, were arrested several weeks later.

They are said to have confessed to the crime but later retracted their statements.

The defendants have repeatedly stated their innocence over the murders, with the defence alleging they were framed.

The trial continues.