Son of famous Spanish actor charged in Thailand with grisly murder of surgeon

Man, 29, confesses to killing Colombian national on Thai holiday

The son of famous Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre has been charged with murder for allegedly killing his boyfriend and dumping his severed head in the sea at a Thailand resort.

Daniel Sancho, 29, appeared before a court on Monday as police sought his continued detention in the alleged murder and dismemberment of 44-year-old Colombian plastic surgeon Edwin Arrieta Arteaga.

Mr Sancho, who is also the son of actor Silvia Bronchalo, works as a chef and was visiting the southern Thai island of Koh Pha Ngan, famous among tourists for its "full moon" parties.

Mr Sancho on Sunday traveled with police to seven sites, including a beach where he is suspected of dumping plastic bags containing body parts of the Colombian man.

“He admitted it,” said Panya Niratimanon, the police chief of Koh Pha Ngan.

“The victim and the suspect knew each other before they came to Thailand, and his dubious activities indicate that he might murder the victim," he told AFP.

Mr Sancho is charged with premeditated murder and concealing and removing body parts to cover up the death or the cause of death of the victim, the officials said.

The suspect was detained shortly after body parts were found at a landfill on Koh Phangan. The police said DNA tests of the remains proved them to be of the Colombian national, adding they have other evidence against Mr Sancho.

Surveillance footage aired by local broadcaster ThaiPBS showed Mr Sancho and the victim on a motorcycle together days before the remains were discovered.

He was seen on the evening of 1 August buying knives, garbage bags, rubber gloves and cleaning utensils at a local store, according to the Spanish El Pais newspaper.

Later that night, Mr Sancho approached two women who run a kayak rental store close asking to “hire a boat". The women reportedly said they told him it wasn’t safe for a tourist to go out on the water at night but eventually allowed him after he paid $1,000.

After dumping the body parts, Mr Sancho checked out of his hotel on 4 August. The same day, a garbage collector reportedly found a human pelvis and intestines stuffed inside a bag at the landfill.

Mr Sancho’s family released a statement on Sunday asking for “maximum respect, both for Daniel Sancho himself and for the whole family, in these delicate moments of maximum confusion”.