Expat British pensioners were viciously beaten by kickboxing neighbours half their age in Thailand then feared THEY would be locked up after being found guilty of assault for their efforts to defend themselves
By MATT STRUDWICK
Published: 21:02 EDT, 12 March 2025 | Updated: 22:17 EDT, 12 March 2025
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An elderly British couple who retired to Thailand have been found guilty of assault, despite CCTV footage showing they were the victims of a savage beating by their kickboxing neighbours.
Des and Mary Byrne, from Middlesbrough, were left battered and bruised in 2023 after a brutal assault over a planning dispute.
But they were yesterday found guilty at a Thai court of assault and causing damage despite footage showing it was them who were attacked in the beach resort Hua Hin.
Mr Byrne, 77, was knocked out cold by his male kickboxing neighbour, who then continued to strike him while he was on the floor a total of 22 times.
Meanwhile, his wife, 69, suffered a broken nose and a bleed on the brain when she was attacked by a woman, who she said punched and kicked her until she fell into a flower bed where she then appears to have been stamped on.
The Byrnes feared they would be have to serve time behind bars but were given a 20-day suspended sentence and a £400 fine.
Mr Byrne told The Sun: 'We are extremely relieved.'
Their neighbours, both aged in their 40s, were arrested and initially denied the charges in May 2024, but later changed their plea to guilty and were ordered to pay compensation, according to the Byrnes.
Des and Mary Byrne, from Middlesbrough, were left battered and bruised in 2023 after a brutal assault over a planning dispute
They were yesterday found guilty at a Thai court of assault and causing damage despite footage showing it was them who were attacked in the beach resort Hua Hin
But the case took a shocking turn when their home was raided by Thai police officers who then arrested them on counter charges of causing 'superficial injuries and mental anguish'.
Retired chemical engineer Mr Byrne and retired nurse Mrs Byrne claimed they were taken to court because they refused to pay a bribe.
The couple now say they will pick up their passports in the coming hours, before flying back to Britain.
'We are okay - despite being found guilty,' they said
'There was a long period of investigation in court because it was said we had caused contempt of court due to the coverage of our case. We denied it.'
The couple had spent every penny of their savings trying to clear their names, including selling their retirement home.
The Byrnes moved to the resort city on the Thai Riviera in 2021, and used their hard-earned savings to build a £200,000 villa to live out their retirements there.
But that dream soon turned in a 'horror beyond their worst nightmare' when they found themselves at the centre of a dispute over land access.
Their new life took a dark turn when they say they came home from a shopping trip to find developers carrying out building work on their land.
Their neighbours told them they owned the access road to it, and a row broke out.
Mrs Byrne 69, suffered a broken nose and a bleed on the brain when she was attacked by a woman, who she said punched and kicked her until she fell into a flower bed
The resort city of Hua Hin is a 2.5 hour drive from Bangkok (file image)
The Byrnes discovered the couple had no legal right to the land and managed to block them from developing on it for three months.
But tensions are said to have reached boiling point when they discovered the pair in their garden and the disagreement turned to physical violence.
In December 2023, the pair heard a commotion in their garden, and went outside to find two people ripping up their plants.
They confronted the pair, a couple in their 40s said to have been their neighbours, and told them to leave the property.
But the unnamed man, believed to be from the UK, then launched a vicious attack on them aided by his partner, a Thai national, which was captured on CCTV.
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