YouTube chef killed and dismembered plastic surgeon while on holiday

Son of a prominent Spanish actor found guilty of murdering man he travelled with to Thailand’s ‘full moon party island’

A Spanish Youtube chef has been found guilty of killing and dismembering a plastic surgeon with whom he travelled to Thailand’s “full moon” party island.
Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, a member of a Spanish acting family, was on Thursday found guilty by a Thai court of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The Koh Samui Provincial Court issued an initial sentence of death for Sancho but commuted it to life imprisonment citing his co-operation during the trial.
Sancho, 30, had been charged with the murder of Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, a 44-year-old from Colombia, when both were staying on the Thai holiday island of Koh Pha-ngan in August last year.
The island is famous for its monthly “full moon” beach parties, attracting travellers from around the world for all-night raves.
Sancho’s father, Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre, a prominent Spanish actor, attended the sentencing.
The case came to light when refuse collectors found what the Bangkok Post newspaper described as a sawed-off pelvis and intestines weighing about 11lbs (5kg) in a fertiliser sack at a rubbish dump.
Shortly after that, Sancho reported to police that Arrieta was missing. Police then gathered evidence linking the two men that led them to detain and interrogate him.
Police said that Sancho had confessed to murdering Arrieta because he threatened to disgrace him and his family by revealing their alleged sexual relationship.
Sancho, through his father and his lawyers, said that was a distorted version of what he told police, and denied having a sexual relationship with Arrieta.
Police obtained surveillance video showing Sancho allegedly purchasing a knife, rubber gloves, garbage bags and cleaning solutions at a convenience store before Arrieta’s death, which prosecutors claimed bolstered the charge of premeditated murder.
In his closing statement earlier in his trial, Sancho told the court he regretted his actions, the Spanish newspaper El País reported.
“I am sorry that a life has been lost and that parents have lost a son,” Sancho said. “I am sorry that his family was not able to bury him properly. I’m sorry for what I did after the death.”
The court also ordered Sancho to pay more than 4.2 million baht (£94,000) in compensation to the victim’s family.
Sancho’s father said after the verdict that he intended “to always keep fighting, to keep fighting”.
At his trial on the island of Samui, Sancho claimed he got into a fight with Arrieta when he allegedly tried to sexually assault him. He said that Arrieta fell as they scuffled and hit his head on a bathtub, losing consciousness and then dying.
He had pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder.
Sancho acknowledged dismembering the victim’s body and disposing of the parts on land and at sea. For the charge of concealing or damaging a body, he received a four-month prison sentence, reduced to two months for acknowledging the act.
He had also pleaded not guilty to the charge of destroying another person’s documents – the victim’s passport – for which he received a two-year prison term.
The elements of the case – violent death on a holiday island, the celebrity connections and the lurid details – attracted huge coverage in Spanish media. HBO has produced a Spanish-language documentary on the events.
Under certain conditions, Sancho can apply to be repatriated to serve the remainder of his prison term in Spain after several years of incarceration in Thailand, according to a treaty between Bangkok and Madrid.