PHUKET, Thailand — Two mysterious cases involving Britons on Phuket remain unsolved. One is a clear-cut murder, the other a case of a missing tourist who may still be alive. Phang Nga police have told Phuketwan that they are no closer to uncovering the whereabouts of Stone Brown, 31, who vanished after hiring a car on Phuket last month. Bloodstains were found in the car, which was left at a petrol station in Phang Nga Town. The cream Toyota Fortuna contained a half-drunk can of beer and bags of clothing. Mr Brown hired the car for three days, from September 4-7, and left his passport with Patong Suthin Car Rent, on Phuket. Then a man who did not give his name called the renatal firm to say that the Fortuna had been parked at Ratchapuk petrol station in Phang Nga Town for three days. Police were called and searched the Fortuna, dusting it for fingerprints. Three torches were found in the vehicle, along with clothing and the half-drunk can of beer. The blood was on the rear of the driver's seat. Mr Brown's passport showed that he arrived in Thailand from Cambodia. He paid for the car at 1800 baht a day for three days. Since his disappearance, nothing more has been heard from Mr Brown. The other unsolved case is the murder of Ian Kenneth Stuart, 60, a British expat, who was a financial adviser with St James Properties on Phuket. His battered body was found on February 23 in a bedroom at the shophouse where he worked and lived, diagonally opposite Tesco-Lotus, just off the bypass road intersection in Phuket City. Tung Thong police dusted for fingerprints, checked Mr Stuart's personal habits, and even looked at CCTV footage taken in the neighborhood. It may have been a breaking and entering gone wrong. Police still have the case open and hope it can be solved. The Stuart murder caused particular anguish among Phuket's expat community because it came within days of another expat killing, the assassination-murder of Canadian property developer Francis Alex Degioanni, 34. He was shot dead on February 19 outside his townhouse in Patong. Police later arrested and charged one of his friends and associates, Diana Goh Li Fun, 32, from Singapore, and a group of seven others. She is believed to be still in Phuket Prison awaiting trial. by Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison | 
