- Couple flew out to Thailand earlier this month to enjoy seven-week trip
- But just a week into the holiday, she was found dead in hotel pool
- Partner tells how she had been overjoyed at the beauty of the country
- Reports state she died from drowning after taking night-time swim
A
British holidaymaker says his 'whole world dropped' when he discovered
his partner had died in a swimming pool while he was sleeping just yards
away in their Thai hotel.
Rachel
Turner and Stefan Brown, from Wolverhampton, West Midlands, were just
one week into a seven-week 'trip of a lifetime' to South-East Asia when
the tragedy occurred.
It
is believed Ms Turner had gone for an early morning swim in a pool at
the Sofia Gardens Resort on the island of Koh Chang before she was found
dead by a member of staff yesterday morning.
Mr
Brown has now told of his heartbreak at the death of his 'soulmate',
who he said he went to sleep cuddling but woke up to find had drowned.
Rachel Turner (right) died in a swimming pool in Thailand during a holiday with partner Stefan Brown (left)
Speaking from Thailand, Mr Brown said he was woken by the hotel manager yesterday and told what had happened.
He said: 'We had got up at 7am [the previous] morning because of jet lag, we hired out a motorbike and just drove around the island.
'We had the perfect day together. You keep getting these viewpoints and she was absolutely crying her eyes out.
'She
had never been so happy and never seen anything so beautiful. She had
never been out of Europe. I had always wanted to take her to Thailand.'
He added: 'We
went to bed early because we were tired. We went to bed at 10pm
cuddling and next thing I know I'm getting a bang on the door from the
owner.
'I thought she had gone for a walk and had fallen asleep on a sun lounger and he couldn't wake her up.
'I
went outside and thought "oh my God" - my whole world dropped. I don't
want to say what I saw. It's just too hard at the moment.
'We had both had relationships before but we had found our soul-mates. Neither of us had ever been in love so much.'
Just hours before Ms Turner was found dead by a member of hotel staff, Mr Brown posted this picture online
Ms Turner had posted a picture of herself on the ferry to the island of Koh Chang hours before her death
It came just hours after Mr Brown posted a picture on Facebook of the view of the pool from the couple's hotel room balcony.
He wrote that the pair were listening to Coldplay song Paradise, and captioned the picture: 'The view from our bedroom window for the foreseeable future!'
Mr
Brown is due at the local police station to give a statement today and
but says he wants to remain in Thailand until he can bring Ms Turner's
body home.
He said today: 'We both loved life. We had just set up a company, we were contemplating trying for children.
'I want to stay here until I can bring her body back but it could take a month to three months.
'I've got a good friend who lives out here so he's looking after me and my parents are both willing to fly out.'
The couple were staying at the Sofia Gardens Resort on the island of Koh Chang when the tragedy happened
Koh Chang is an island in Thailand's Drat province which, until recently, was largely unexplored by tourists
Ms Turner was found at 6am on Sunday by a member of hotel staff, who rushed to get Mr Brown.
The
couple, who run a recruitment business in the West Midlands, had flown
out to Thailand on May 11 and visited Bangkok before moving on to the
island of Koh Chang.
Ms
Turner her used her Facebook page to tell of the couple's trip from
Bangkok down the coast by bus and then on to Koh Chang by ferry.
She
posted a photo of herself driving the vessel over to the holiday island
and wrote: 'Happy, happy, happy as we go down South to bask in the
beauty of the islands.'
An initial post-mortem examination found Ms Turner died from drowning, according to local reports.
A
spokesman for the Foreign Office said: 'We can confirm the death of a
British national in Thailand and we are providing consular support to
the family.'
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