British man’s body found in sea in Thailand ‘after he was seen running away from bar’
A sister is hunting for answers after her brother’s naked body was found in the sea off a beach in Thailand.
Regan Kelly, 28, went missing in the early hours of January 3, and was seen on CCTV at the bar in the Mad Monkey Hostel in Phuket.
Footage shows him talking to a man for several hours before the conversation got ‘increasingly heated’, according to his family.
Regan got up and was followed by the man to the beach and CCTV from another hotel nearer to the beach shows the unknown man still following him before the video cuts out.
He was wearing shorts, a Mad Monkey t-shirt, black baseball cap and a cross-body bag when he was running towards the beach.
But his naked body was found by a watersports instructor at 10am the next day and Regan was later identified by his family.
The man who followed him is also described as a tourist by the family who say he looked muscly.
Regan’s sister, Laurie, and her father are now in Thailand searching for answers and described Regan as ‘the most beautiful person’.
She told MailOnline: ‘We are not too sure what they were talking about, but the conversation seemed a bit confrontational.
‘There’s no audio but Regan looked visibly upset.’
The family have launched a fundraiser to bring his body back to the UK.
Laurie added: ‘The detective said he has worked tirelessly but I just don’t know if they want to make it out like it was a tragic accident.
‘Don’t get me wrong, it could have been an accident, but something is really not sitting right with me.
‘Our main focus is getting him home ASAP and continuing to work out what happened, because for us there isn’t any closure, this isn’t a closed case.’
Laurie said she wants to appeal to the man who followed Regan for more information.
She added: ‘He’s not a reckless party boy – he’s come out here to have a nice time, but he was meant to be out here for a month backpacking and seeing sights rather than partying like lots of people come for.’
While Thai authorities said his cause of death was drowning, his family now want the opinion of a British coroner.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Visanu Choomee said: ‘The autopsy has been conducted thoroughly because I ordered the doctor to do it immediately.
‘There were no signs of physical assault, and the doctor believes that this was not a murder. It was caused by drowning.
‘The investigators have reviewed the CCTV footage, and the deceased, Mr Regan Kelly, was intoxicated and ran into the sea alone at around 4.30am on January 3.
‘There is footage from the CCTV at the hospital that can be used as evidence. Around 4.22am, he was still sitting and drinking alcohol, then stood up, left the bar, and ran to Patong Beach within three or four minutes. From that location, at that time, there were no witnesses, but the CCTV footage is clear.
‘As for the foreign man who was suspected of drinking with him in front of the hostel, the police did not investigate him because they didn’t know who he was. The hostel claimed they did not recognise him.
‘The incident occurred suddenly when Regan ran into the sea alone. The police will send the autopsy report indicating that his death was caused by himself.
‘Regarding the blood alcohol test results, the body was found on January 3, but at that time, we couldn’t conduct the autopsy because we hadn’t contacted his relatives yet.
‘Once we spoke with his relatives, and they expressed their doubts, I ordered the autopsy to be done immediately.
‘However, at that time, the doctor couldn’t test for alcohol in the blood, but cocaine and marijuana were found during an initial urine test.’
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