British widow forgives murderous pirates who threw husband's body overboard

Malcolm Robertson, 64, was bludgeoned with a hammer and thrown overboard from his yacht during a round-the-world sailing holiday.

His wife Linda was tied up naked for ten hours by the three men who boarded the vessel off the coast of Thailand in March.

After an inquest into Mr Robertson's death yesterday, she said that she was convinced the pirates were not bad people.

'The fact that they left me alive shows that deep down there was some goodness in them,' the 57-year-old said.

Her yacht was boarded by the three teenagers early in the morning as the couple slept in separate cabins.

Mrs Roberston, from St Leonards, told East Sussex Coroner's Court that her husband shouted 'get off my boat' before she heard a scuffle.

The gang, who were Burmese fishermen living illegally in Thailand, then burst into her cabin and forced her to start the yacht's engine.

At this point she said she already suspected her husband was dead. 'I knew because I was walking through his blood,' she said.

'I could feel a thick, sticky fluid between my toes on the floor. I looked down and could see it was blood. I could see blood everywhere, up the walls, on the bed and on the pillow.'