Kirsty Jones: Mother's £10,000 reward to catch killer

A poster has been produced offering a reward for information about Kirsty Jones' murder

The mother of a woman murdered 12 years ago while travelling around Thailand has offered a £10,000 reward for leads to capture her daughter's killer.

Kirsty Jones, 23, from Tredomen, near Brecon, was raped and strangled at a guesthouse in Chiang Mai in 2000.

The Liverpool University graduate was three months into a two-year around the world trip when she was killed.

Her mother, Sue Jones, told the media in Chiang Mai, Kirsty's death had left her with "a great sense of loss".

"It still feels like yesterday when we heard what had happened to our daughter," Mrs Jones said.

Mrs Jones travelled to Chiang Mai with officers from Dyfed Powys police

"Twelve years on we still feel a great sense of loss without Kirsty in our lives.

"With the passing of time people's loyalties change and relationships end which may remove any previous reluctance to come forward.

"Something small which may seem irrelevant at the time could now be significant and add new pieces to the jigsaw that the police already have."

Appealing directly to the people of Chiang Mai she added: "Not a day goes by when I don't think of what she would look like, what she would be doing, where would she be."

The reward of half a million Baht was announced in a press conference at Thailand's Department of Special Investigation where Mrs Jones was joined by officers from Dyfed-Powys Police and British Embassy representatives.

Over the course of the investigation, 22 people including residents at the guest house where Kirsty had been staying, suspects and relatives have had their DNA tested, but so far there has been no match to a sample discovered at the crime scene.

The Welsh police officers and Mrs Jones are due to hold another press conference in the country's capital Bangkok on Friday - the 12th anniversary of Kirsty's death.

Farmer's daughter Ms Jones was found dead in a room at the Aree guest house in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, 435 miles (700km) north of Bangkok.

Her mother has pledged never to give up the fight to see her daughter's murderer caught.

The Thai authorities told Dyfed-Powys Police officers they were continuing to investigate the circumstances of Ms Jones's death, with the focus on the inquiry in Chiang Mai.

Kirsty Jones was found dead in Chiang Mai in August 2000

Det Supt Andy John, of Dyfed-Powys Police, said that since the last visit, regular contact had been maintained with the police team working on the case.

He added that officers in Wales had been encouraged by the work carried out in Thailand in the past six months.

Despite a number of arrests, no charges have ever been brought over the murder, and the lengthy slow-paced investigation has frustrated the Jones family.

Sue Jones and her son Gareth visited Thailand with officers from Dyfed-Powys Police on the fifth anniversary of Ms Jones death in 2005.