many couples of course remain happy, but the dark reality of others isn't talked about in my community. in this isolated part of england, the body of a thai woman was found. 20 years on, her family is still seeking answers and justice. she died not long after i moved to the uk. her death has always haunted me.

why didn't her british husband report her missing? i tracked him down to question him. mr armitage! yeah? did you kill your wife? mr armitage. .. i replied to your email, 0k? this is the first time buathong is visiting the place where her cousin was found. in 2004, walkers came across her half—naked body here in this remote place.

it was buathong who recognised a police drawing of her in a bbc story, finally identifying the body as 36—year—old lamduan armitage seekany. for 15 years, she was just known as the lady of the hills. no—one in the uk had reported her missing. at first, police didn't believe her death was suspicious. it wasn't until 2016, more than a decade after she was found,

that the case was reopened after a police review. they now believed she was killed. the lack of any form of identification, with a body taken away from the local habitation would suggest that somebody is trying to hide her, to conceal the fact that she's dead, at least for a while. in a quest for answers, i have come back to the village where lamduan grew up in rural north—east thailand to meet her family.

that foreign boyfriend was a british man, david armitage. they went on to marry and move to the uk together in 1991.

she reported her daughter missing

to the local authorities. joomsri even travelled to bangkok asking for help from the foreign office. it was years before she learned she was dead. joomsri says david told her grandchildren their mother had remarried and gone home, and that, years later,

her grandson turned up asking for his mother. david armitage has always denied any involvement in the death of his wife. he's now living back in thailand and in 2019, when asked, he said, "i didn't kill my wife. absolutely not." the thai department of special investigation are now working with the uk police on the case. in february this year, uk police travelled for the first time to thailand to investigate the case, and together with the thai authorities, interviewed lamduan�*s parents.

the team also requested an interview with her husband, david armitage, as a witness. they also wanted him to do a dna test, but he refused to meet them, saying he was unwell.

here, in lamduan�*s region, there are many thai women married to foreigners. at the hotel i'm staying at, i met malinee and dirk faude, her german husband. they chat cheerfully

she take — care of me very good. if i want massage, she do that. with her hands. if my fingernails too long, she cut them. i i don't have to ask. she come to me and say, "hey, your fingernails- are long, i have to cut." german never do. my german ex—wife never do, for example, like that. - i tell malinee that i'm here to investigate what happened to lamduan.

0n thai social media, there are lots of videos telling you to try your luck and try and get a foreign husband. in some videos, the presenter gives tips to women in rural areas. they pray 75% of the thai community in the uk is female. it's one of the most unequal gender ratios in a migrant group. the thai women network was set up seven years ago. it is a support group that aims

to educate women about their rights. on average, every week, they receive a new call for help. this woman was helped by the network. we are calling her nok. so naive.

but after moving to the uk, she says her husband became abusive. two months after arriving, she told him she wanted to go home. when we contacted the police involved, they said they questioned nok and her husband and...

they added that... one day when he was out, she packed her bags and headed to the airport with her child. nok�*s child now lives with her ex—husband. she sees them a few times a month. the system's failed these women and i think that's quite alarming in itself. criminologist angela wilcock researches the lives of thai women in the uk.

and i've been quite alarmed by the isolation for the women that i have spoken to. they fear they may be deported. they understand their role — their husband's partner sends money back to thailand for their family, and that would be cut off. that is a key issue in terms of coercive controlling behaviour. they need to have an understanding of their rights when they come, that they're not predominantly under the control of their husband. dao met her british husband online. she was 28 when they started talking. but when they moved to the uk, her husband changed.

she sobs when their child was just six months old, dao reached her lowest point.

dao tried to leave many times. she went back after husband promised to change, but she says he never did. with help from friends and several organisations, she finally left him. the uk government told us they are committed to supporting all victims of domestic abuse, regardless of their immigration status. the thai embassy did not respond to our interview requests. man prays

what lamduan�*s mother wants is for her daughter's body to be brought home to rest. but authorities say her husband david hasn't given his approval for his wife's body to be returned.

i have so many questions for mr armitage, and i have been calling him and writing to him but he hasn't responded. so i have come to the university where he works, and here to meet him after class. mr armitage? yeah. i'm from the bbc. did you receive my letter? i'm still reviewing it, actually. yeah? yeah. we would like to talk to you about the death of your wife. yeah, 0k. can we talk about it, please? not at the moment.

i'll get back to you. can we talk about it at your place, please? no, i can't. sorry. why didn't you report her missing to the police? i'll reply to your email, 0k? 0k. have you ever looked for her, sir? why didn't you talk to the uk police when they were here to investigate about the death, sir? mr armitage? yeah? did you kill your wife? mr armitage? i'll reply to your email. thank you. but why didn't you have her remains sent back? what did you tell the children about their mum? excuse me. obstruction there. 0k. thank you. so now i'm going to wait and see if he can answer my letter. we did not receive any response. the uk police force on the case told us in a statement that... they also said that... ..to her parents.

for now, it's buathong that visits her cousin's unnamed grave every year.

hello. storm gerrit has certainly made its presence felt across the uk with a combination of significant snow, flooding, rain and some exceptionally strong winds. just a selection of the gusts recorded during wednesday and on into the evening. wind gusts of close to 90 miles per hour in the northern isles. now on the satellite picture, this storm looks beautiful — this swirl of cloud here.

the main body of the wet and windy weather is now sliding away north—eastwards, up towards scandinavia, but low pressure is still firmly in charge. lots of isobars on this chart. that means it is going to stay windy for many of us during thursday and there will be lots of showers. those showers heavy, possibly thundery, wintry over hills in the north of the uk. across england, wales and northern ireland, some very gusty winds, gusting to 40, 50, maybe 60 miles per hour around some irish sea coasts, but certainly not as windy as it has been across scotland. temperature—wise, well, five or six degrees in the north of scotland, 12 or 13 in south wales and southern england. and then as we head through thursday night, there will be further showers or longer spells of rain. still some wintry showers mixing in across the northern half of the uk with this northerly wind kicking in. that will bring a somewhat chillier feel. in fact, i think we'll see quite a lot of rain, sleet and snow developing

in northern scotland by the start of friday morning. that is a sign of things to come. we'll see this showery and at times wintry weather continuing to affect northern parts of scotland with a strong northerly wind. pretty windy in other areas as well. a band of showers across northern ireland into northern england, something wintry mixing in here over higher ground. sunshine and showers further south. a slightly chillier feel to the weather on friday. and then into saturday, here comes our next weather system. some heavy rain in places where we really do not need it. some snow developing over high ground in northern england and scotland. we could see some snow to quite low levels for a time in scotland. 5 degrees for aberdeen, 12 degrees for plymouth. and so low pressure will be firmly in charge of our weather as we head towards the end of the year, towards the new year's eve celebrations. in fact, this low could well bring another bout of very windy weather indeed. so this is the forecast through new year's eve and into new year's day. it looks quite unsettled.

welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm mariko 0i. the headlines: israel expands its operations in the gaza strip. the central and southern regions are becoming the focus of its assault. the new york times sues microsoft and 0penai, claiming chatgpt has used millions of newspaper articles without permission. a major incident�*s declared in scotland, as storm gerrit sweeps across the uk, bringing strong winds, snow and heavy rain.

and fresh details about the death of lee sun—kyun, and we speak to the 18—year—old prodigy who could be formula 1's next superstar driver. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. hi there, thank you for being with us. we start with the latest on the israel—gaza war. the israeli war cabinet minister, benny gantz, has said time is running out for a diplomatic solution to prevent attacks on israel's northern border. he warned that if the lebanese government does not do more to stop hezbollah, his military would take matters into their own hands. it comes as israel continues to expand its ground offensive in gaza, with the hamas—run health ministry there saying

almost 200 palestinians have been killed in the past two