British Man's Prison Sentence for 2014 Murder of Thai Woman

51-year-old Shane Kenneth Looker was sentenced to eight years in prison today for the 2014 murder of Laxami Manochat, CBS News reports. The British Looker faced trial by a Thai court, as he had picked up sex worker Manochat from a go-go bar in Bangkok. Manochat’s age at death is reported as 27 in CBS News and 31 in Thailand’s Royal Coast Review. Both sources agree that Manochat was last seen alive on November 1st, 2014, entering a hotel with Looker; later, Looker left alone with a bag so heavy it needed to be carried by two handlers. Bloodstained sheets were also found in his room.

On November 6th, police recovered Manochat’s still-clothed dismembered body from a weighted suitcase that had been dumped in the Mae Klong River, according to CBS News. Looker’s DNA under Manochat’s fingernails and both CCTV footage and witness reports rapidly identified Looker as the murderer. The Kanchanaburi Provincial Court issued his arrest warrant on January 28th, 2015, but Looker had fled first to Malaysia, then Spain, and CBS News states he was not apprehended until June 2017 on the island of Ibiza.

Looker appealed against extradition for years, but under Thai reassurance that he wouldn’t receive the death penalty, CBS News states the European Court of Human Rights allowed him to be extradited from Spain to Thailand in July 2021. His initial sentence of 16 years was halved due to his eventual confession, and was combined with the ordered payment of 12.5 million baht (equivalent of $300,000) to Manochat’s family, the Royal Coast Review states. Looker witnessed the sentencing through video call from Kanchanaburi Prison. His motive for Manochat’s murder is not stated.