Yachtsman's body 'may not be found'

Pirates are believed to have slit Malcolm Robertson's throat and then thrown his body overboard when they raided his yacht as he sailed with wife Linda, 57, near Koh Dong, an island about 45 miles west of Satun province, off southern Thailand's Andaman sea coast.

Mrs Robertson's brother John Clee said she texted him to say she was spending the day being interviewed by the Thai authorities.

Thai police said three migrant workers from neighbouring Burma were arrested on a raft about half a mile from the yacht. They remain in custody.

Mr Clee said Mrs Robertson feared for her life as the men kept her tied up in the cabin of the 44ft yacht, named Mr Bean, after killing her 64-year-old husband.

But after around 10 hours and as daylight broke, the thieves fled the vessel and Mrs Robertson was able to call to a nearby fishing boat for help.

Police Captain Suparak Pongkarnjana said the pirates fled on a raft when they saw Thai national park employees passing by in a boat. He said that after they were arrested, the men confessed to killing Mr Robertson, saying they tried to steal the dinghy because they were desperate to go ashore after being forced to work for months at sea.

Mr Clee, 63, said: "I haven't spoken to my sister today but she sent me a text to say she was being interviewed by the police. They haven't found a body yet. That is our greatest fear - that they do not find his body. We have our fingers crossed."

Mr Robertson owned a chain of coffee shops in and around his home town of Hastings, East Sussex, but passed the running of the business to his children in recent years and was semi-retired.

He was fulfilling a life-long dream by spending the winter months sailing around warmer climes in his yacht with his wife. They were both qualified yacht masters who had sailed round the world.