British police head to Thailand over woman's 2004 Yorkshire Dales death

Lamduan Armitage's body was found near Penyghent on 20 September, 2004

Cold case officers have travelled to Thailand to speak with the husband and family of a woman found dead in the Yorkshire Dales almost 19 years ago.

Walkers discovered the half-naked body of Lamduan Armitage, nee Seekanya, in a stream near Pen-y-ghent in 2004.

For 15 years her identity was unknown until family in Thailand came forward and DNA proved it was their daughter.

As well as her parents, police are hoping to speak to husband David Armitage who now lives in Thailand.

North Yorkshire officers, who arrived in the country on Sunday, said being there was a crucial next step in their attempts to finally solve the case.

Adam Harland, manager of the major investigation team's cold case review unit, said: "To understand Lamduan's life we need to speak to the people who knew her.

"We can't move forward without understanding from Lamduan's family all the aspects about her life and particularly the last few months of her life."

A group of walkers had posed for a picture when they noticed her body in the stream

A post-mortem carried out after she was found on 20 September 2004 failed to establish how she died.

There was no sign of violence and hypothermia was ruled out, but detectives could not answer two main questions; who she was or how she met her death.

Local people paid for her burial in the churchyard in Horton-in-Ribblesdale and she became known as The Lady of the Hills.

A cold case review was started in 2016 and scientific advances meant police were able to piece together a more detailed picture of who she was and came to the conclusion she had been killed.

Her parents Buasa and Joomsri Seekanya live in Udon Thani, in north-east Thailand

In 2019, there was a major breakthrough when a Thai family read a BBC online story about the case and believed the woman could be their daughter who vanished in 2004.

This led North Yorkshire Police to carry out DNA testing with the parents in order to confirm Ms Armitage's identity.

It was established she had moved to the UK in 1991 with Mr Armitage after they were married in Thailand and they had been living in northern England before her death.

Mother-of-three Lamduan lived with her husband David in Portsmouth, Rugby and Preston between 1991 and 2003

Mr Armitage, who later returned to Thailand, has previously said he was not involved in his wife's death, according to The Sun.

The investigation has been at a standstill for three years because attempts by police to travel to the country were delayed by the legal permissions needed and travel restrictions imposed due to Covid.

Mr Harland said getting to Thailand was what "they had been waiting to do for what seems like a lifetime".

He added: "We want to build up a picture of what Lamduan was like, what was going on in her life and try and find some explanation for why she ended up in a beautiful but remote spot on the Yorkshire Dales."