A Thai policeman accused of murdering a British couple has surrendered after almost a month on the run and confessed to killing the two in self-defence.
Detective Sergeant Somchai Visetsingha gave himself up near the Thai-Myanmar border and had told police he killed British tourists Adam Lloyd, 25, and Vanessa Arscott, 24, the officer said on Thursday.
"He said he was assaulted first," Lieutenant General Chaiyan Maklamthong, chief of western region police bureau, told Thai ITV television. "Then he was outmatched, so he shot them," he said.
Somchai, who was charged with murder and could face the death penalty, told reporters earlier when asked if he had killed the tourists: "I can only say that I was hurt."
Somchai is accused of shooting Lloyd after a heated argument in a restaurant that the policeman owned in Kanchanaburi, near the Bridge over the River Kwai, a popular tourist spot 125 km (80 miles) west of Bangkok, on September 9.
Somchai is accused of killing Arscott with his car as she tried to flee early in the morning.
Police said Somchai had been flown from his border hideout in a military helicopter to Kanchanaburi police headquarters where he would be interrogated.
ITV said Somchai was staying with Karen rebels along the border before he offered to surrender to police on Monday.
Looking tired in a green military T-shirt and in handcuffs, Somchai was brought into a police station where British diplomat Andy Pearce expressed his satisfaction and commended Thai police for arresting one of their own.
A police officer told Reuters they would take Somchai for a re-enactment of the crime at the scene later on Thursday.