Crime
Pattaya Expat Sean Tinsley Jailed for Six Years over Assault of British Teacher Adam Pickles
Sean Henry Tinsley was Arrested at Bangkok Airport in 2014
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PATTAYA – Expat Sean Tinsley has been jailed for six years in Chonburi, Thailand over an assault that left teacher Adam Pickles from the UK needing round-the-clock medical care.
Adam Pickles, 43, spent more than a year in a coma after being attacked by Sean Tinsley in Pattaya in 2012.
Tinsley, originally from Wolverhampton UK, had been jailed after an initial not guilty ruling was overturned on appeal.
Sean Henry Tinsley, was arrested at Suvarnabhumi airport as he tried to sneak back into the country after changing his name and passport details in 2014.
In 2007 he was charged with selling fake visas to long term foreigners in Thailand, who did not want to go through official channels, through his company ‘The Visa Shop’.
Adam Pickles mother, Adele, said the verdict meant “justice has been served”.
Adele Pickles said: “We’ve never felt vengeance or hatred; we’ve never felt these kind of feelings.
“We wanted to be able to tell Adam that we did everything we possibly could to get that verdict for him and for the sake of his son, Benjamin, so we can say, yes, this happened, but we got justice for him.”
Adam Pickles was the head of English at the Regents International School
He suffered a traumatic brain injury after being attacked with an iron bar in what was believed to be a road rage incident and was flown back to the UK following a campaign to fund his repatriation.
Mrs Pickles said he was no longer in a coma but he was only able to move his fingers and toes and, sometimes, open his eyes.
She said: “We told him the result yesterday and we got a little smile.”
Tinsley was cleared of a charge of attempted murder but, following, an appeal he was convicted of assault and jailed.
He was also fined 6.2 million Thai baht (£114,000).
The BBC understands he has up to 60 days to appeal against the verdict and has lodged an application for bail.
Barrister Iain Morley, who was assisting the Pickles family, said: “We have no doubt that the family feel great relief from this overwhelming important move.”
