Man Appears In Court Over Thai Shooting

3 January 2013, 16:50 | Updated: 3 January 2013, 17:12

A man accused of shooting dead a 22-year-old from south london has appeared in court.

Stephen Ashton from Purley had been at a New Year's Eve Party on the island of Koh Phangan.

Its believed Mr Ashton, a former city trader, was was caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between rival gangs.

26 year old Ekkapan Kaewkla has been charged with killing Stephen and carrying a weapon.

British ambassador to Thailand, Mark Kent, is expected to visit the crime scene shortly after footage emerged yesterday of Kaewkla and Thai police carrying out a reconstruction of events there.

Mr Ashton's family reportedly travelled to Koh Phangan to identify his body formally and make arrangements for its repatriation.

Thai police said Mr Ashton was with a group of friends and 300 other tourists seeing in 2013 at a pub and restaurant called the Zoom Bar in Haad Rin Beach when he was shot by a home-made gun shortly after 4am on Monday.