November 28, 2013
BANGKOK (AFP) - A Thai court sentenced a British kickboxer to 25 years in prison Thursday for the murder of a former US Marine following a bar fight on the island of Phuket.
Lee Aldhouse's sentence was reduced from life imprisonment because he pleaded guilty to stabbing to death 23-year-old Dashawn Longfellow in 2010.
The victim was in Thailand after sustaining a combat injury in Afghanistan.
Aldhouse, known in Phuket by his ring name "The Pitbull", fled to his home country after the incident and become the first British suspect to be extradited to Thailand under a century-old treaty.
"The court originally handed him a life sentence but because he confessed it was reduced to 25 years," his laywer Kampon Siriwatunyoo told AFP after the ruling in Phuket.
He said Aldhouse was considering whether to appeal.
"He prefers to be in a Thai jail rather than serve his sentence in Britain because he said there is a royal pardon one or twice a year here," Kampon added.
Under Thai murder laws, Aldhouse could have faced the death penalty.
Aldhouse fled to Britain after Longfellow was stabbed but was arrested upon arrival and detained for almost two years while he fought extradition to Thailand.
He lost his extradition battle and in December last year was sent to Thailand for trial.
He initially denied murder but later changed his plea.
