Police on the holiday island had previously ruled that video producer Kevin Attew, 57, from Aldershot, Hampshire, committed suicide by drowning himself in a lake near the resort area of Chawaeng after his Thai girlfriend told them that he intended to do just that. Mr Attew's body was found last Tuesday.

But after pictures taken by his best friend appeared to show that he had been beaten to death before being put in the water, the murder enquiry was launched.

Further doubt was cast on the suicide verdict when it emerged that the man-made lake in which his body was found was fewer than 30 centimetres deep - and that the lake was only yards from the Gulf of Thailand, which would have been a more effective suicide spot.

Londoner Crispin Paton-Smith, who publishes of the island's real estate magazine and was Mr Attew's best friend, said: 'I was appalled to hear the verdict of drowning. It was a no-brainer. Kevin was beaten to death and his body was left on dry land for quite a while before being put in the lake.Paton-Smith, a former gunner in the Royal Artillery, said: 'I have spoken to his girlfriend and she continues to insist he committed suicide.

'He did not - unless he beat himself to death. He would have had to dig a hole to drown himself.

'Kevin ran a very successful bar and was the sweetest man in the world. He had no enemies.' Read More