Briton filmed inciting Thai shopping centre fire faces court

The ugly face of TV: How Jeremy Clarkson brought facial prejudice to a head

If you saw someone with a facial disfigurement walking down the street, would you A) Laugh at them B...

Atlantic Odyssey: Exclusive first hand account of how a world record attempt ended in near disaster

Writing exclusively for The Independent, Mark Beaumont recounts the incredible events that saw an at...

Stacking shelves won’t help career progression

Over the last week, we have seen a series of dodgy manoeuvres by the government regarding unpaid ret...

Is catastrophic global warming, like the Millenium Bug, a mistake?

"The whole idea of climate being one number driven by another number is nutty." Prof Richard Lindzen...

A Briton arrested in Thailand after being filmed inciting people to burn down a shopping centre appeared in court today, the Foreign Office said.

Jeff Savage, 48, a former Royal Household employee, was arrested last month following major unrest in the Far East nation.

Savage, from Tonbridge, Kent, who has lived in Thailand for nine years, was captured on video exhorting protesters to set fire to the Central World shopping centre in central Bangkok, days before it was torched and destroyed during the Red Shirt protests.

He was filmed wearing a bandanna and saying of Central World: "We're gonna loot everything, gold, watches, everything, and then we're gonna burn it to the ground."

Savage, who worked intermittently as a Buckingham Palace general porter in the kitchens during a five-year period from 1993, later denied any involvement in the destruction of the shopping centre and said he was being "stitched up" when he was arrested and taken to a Bangkok remand prison.

Savage was reportedly charged with violating the state of emergency decree, an offence which carries a two-year prison sentence.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There was a court hearing today. He was remanded in custody until Monday, awaiting further forensics."