Thai police complete probe into suspected cyanide serial killer, hand case over to prosecutors

BANGKOK - Police wrapped up their investigation into Thailand’s worst suspected serial killer on Friday, handing the case against a woman accused of a spate of cyanide poisonings over to prosecutors.

Fourteen victims died and one survived in an alleged murder spree that spanned eight years, police said, announcing that they would file the case to the Attorney-General for prosecution on Friday.

Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn is

facing about 80 criminal charges, including 14 counts of premeditated murder

– a record in Thai crime history, police said.

“Sararat is charged with premeditated murder in all 14 cases, which carries the death penalty,” Mr Anek Taosuparb, deputy commander of the Crime Investigation Division, told reporters.

“This is a historic case in Thailand. Even Jack the Ripper from the UK did not kill this many,” deputy police chief Surachate Hakparn said, referring to the pseudonymous killer of at least five women in London’s East End in 1888.

Sararat is pleading not guilty to the charges, according to the police.

The authorities said the alleged murders were committed with a financial motive and that the suspect had an addiction to online gambling.

She is alleged to have swindled a total of more than US$140,000 (S$190,000) out of her victims before poisoning them with cyanide.

Thai officers interviewed more than 900 witnesses and examined 25,000 documents.

Sararat will not be eligible for bail because police say she would pose a danger to the public.

Sararat had a miscarriage in prison earlier this week and was sent to hospital, local media reported. She had been four months pregnant when she was arrested in late April.

Police denied that their interrogations contributed to the miscarriage.

Her former husband, a high-ranking policeman, is also facing a criminal charge related to covering up a crime. AFP