Just how safe are our children when they decide to go travelling? Woman investigates
WORDS: MISHAAL KHAN. PHOTOS: ALAMY, GETTY
As we edge towards summer, teenagers all over the country will be thinking about how they are going to celebrate the end of their A-level exams, which start in a matter of weeks, and many will be looking forward to graduating from university. And there’s no better way to enjoy a bit of freedom than a backpacking adventure. Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, did just that in 2014 when they travelled to Thailand. But what was intended to be a trip of a lifetime ended in horror when they were both found brutally murdered on a beach. Two men were jailed for killing the young tourists, but now, a decade on, fresh agony has been inflicted on their families as the killers ask for a review of the case and a retrial as they plead their innocence.
For Hannah and David’s parents, the brutality that their children suffered is every parent’s worst nightmare. And it raises the question of the safety of our children when they travel abroad.
Hannah, from Hemsby, Norfolk, was taking a break from her masters degree in speech and language therapy at the University of Essex when she decided to travel to Thailand. David, from Jersey, had recently completed a scholarship at a mining company in Australia and had stopped for a holiday in Thailand on his way home. The two of them met when they arrived on the island of Koh Tao – 250 miles from the capital Bangkok and only accessible by boat. They were both staying at the Ocean View Bungalows, on the sandy white shores of Sairee Beach. It was paradise but, like any parents, Hannah’s were concerned about her being so far from home. ‘The family had always been against Hannah going on the trip and tried to persuade her out of it. None of the family was happy with her going there, but she had made her mind up,’ Hannah’s mum Susan Witheridge said.
Hannah tried to allay her parents’ fears by video-calling them often and telling them what a wonderful time she was having. She’d just been on a cookery course in Bangkok and had gone trekking while travelling around Thailand. ‘I was out of my mind when she did all this,’ Susan adds. ‘But I relaxed when she got to the small island of Koh Tao because I knew she was just swimming and sunbathing.’
Head injuries
But on the night of 14 September 2014, Hannah and David, along with some friends, headed to a local beachfront bar before makin
