He wanted a dream retirement in Thailand, he ended up ruined and imprisoned

What was supposed to be an idyllic retreat in Thailand for a British couple has turned into a nightmare of ruin, corruption and prison.

“We invested all our savings in our dream of retiring in Thailand … but criminals and corrupt police officers left us homeless.” Martin Savage.

A dream retirement in Thailand

The couple invested all their savings in a luxurious three-bedroom detached house in Ubon Ratchathani, in northeast Thailand.

British expat Martin Savage and his wife Sudarat dreamed of a luxurious retirement in Thailand, but now find themselves penniless after being robbed of €1.7 million worth of property.

A British expat has revealed how a legal dispute with a neighbor over a driveway led to the loss of almost his entire pension, including homes worth €1.7 million, and ended with him being jailed in a Thai prison.

Martin Savage, 65, dreamed of an idyllic retirement when he moved to Thailand with his wife Sudarat, 66, who has dual Thai and British nationality.

But a dispute with a neighbor over a property line saw his legal fees eat up his credit.

And when Sudarat used his real estate in Thailand to fund his legal battle, he found himself in violation of Thai property law, which landed him and Sudarat in prison.

This retired engineer had a distinguished career working on major construction projects such as the Channel Tunnel.

Today, he has gone from an annual income of €43,962 to a difficult situation where he has to survive on just €115 a month from his modest private pension, his only income.

Speaking to warn others of the dangers of retiring abroad, Mr Savage said:

"I've lost everything, I'm completely ruined."

The couple met in November 1999 while Martin was on holiday in Phuket and married less than a year later.

They first settled in Northern Ireland, where Sudarat ran two restaurants while pursuing his successful engineering career.

Promising real estate investments

40-apartment building in Pattaya purchased by British couple.

The story of their retirement to Thailand began nearly 20 years ago when Martin sold two highly profitable rental properties near his home in Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland.

In 2007, they used the €578,460 from these sales to buy a detached three-bedroom family house with 1.5 acres of land in Ubon Ratchathani.

The couple invested all their savings in a luxurious three-bedroom detached house worth €312,365 in Ubon Ratchathani, eastern Thailand.

They also bought a 40-apartment building in Pattaya , currently worth around €1.3 million, which they said would provide them with a stable income for life.

In the early years, their dream seemed to be coming true, with the apartments bringing in a lot of money.

But in 2010, they had a fight with their neighbor.

The dispute with a neighbor that turns everything upside down

Martin Savage and his wife Sudarat.

At first, the conflict seemed trivial enough: they accused their neighbor of digging up their driveway to force them to sell and move.

The couple hired a lawyer, but almost all of their money was tied up in real estate.

Sudarat, the sole legal owner of the building due to Thai laws prohibiting foreigners from owning land, then borrowed 39,328 euros from a pawnbroker .

See also: How loan sharks make huge profits off the backs of Thailand's poor

But before they had a chance to repay their debt, the couple say they sold the property, now worth €1.3 million, to a partner for around €52,051.

Martin told the Daily Mail:

“She borrowed this money without my knowledge or consent.

I would never have allowed it.

She knows she made a mistake and there's no point in pushing it now.

He was a predator, it was his job and he had done it many times before.

My wife is a lovely person, but at the time she was naive and trusting and thought that everyone who presented themselves as her friends really was.

Martin argues that the transfer was not legal because, even though his name was not on the deed, the property was joint marital property protected by Thai law, but he conceded:

"In Thailand, you just give someone at the office some money and they're good to go."

The couple did not immediately discover that the apartments had been stolen and continued to invest in the legal dispute over the road.

Arrest and imprisonment

Thai prison. Photo: Thomson Reuters Foundation

The conflict took a dramatic turn when the couple was arrested and imprisoned in harsh conditions.

In 2017, they were hit hard when they were both arrested for breach of contract and illegally occupying their own building.

Martin added:

“Legally, they couldn't do that, there was a trial going on and they had to wait for the legal proceedings to be completed.

Five police officers and an accomplice of the criminal arrived at 5 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, which is significant because the courts were closed for the weekend.

They told us to come to the police station to discuss the matter.

I asked if we were under arrest, but they said no and that they just wanted to talk.

At the police station, they tried to get us to sign forms written entirely in Thai, stating that if we signed them, we could go home, but if we refused, we would go to jail.

When we refused, they locked us in cells for Friday night.

We stayed at the police station until Monday morning without being able to make a single phone call or contact the embassy.

The forms, seen by the Daily Mail, are a report of their arrest.

They indicated that Martin had been fully informed of the charges against him.

The document also stated that he had been offered a lawyer and that he had told the police that he did not want to contact anyone.

Martin claims that this is a pure and simple invention.

After falling victim to criminals, the couple now live in a small house rented for 289 euros a month, financed by Martin's meager private pension.

A member of the same gang in Ubon managed to steal the couple's family home, worth €312,306, as well as three plots of land they also owned, claiming that Martin and Sudarat had given him power of attorney, leaving them homeless.

Three days later, Martin and Sudarat were sentenced to three months in prison in Nong Plalai, where he was locked up with 74 other men in a small cell from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Martin said:

“There was hardly any room to sleep on the concrete floor.

At the time, I was 57 years old.

I suffered from asthma all my life and although my stay in prison was short, upon my release I suffered from acute bronchitis.

If I had stayed in prison longer without the embassy knowing, it could have been fatal for someone my age."

However, a few days later, the prison director informed the British Embassy and eight days after their arrival, they were released.

When they returned to the building, their belongings had been emptied and dumped on the side of the road.

“We took what we could and moved.

“We haven’t been back since,” Martin said.

But the couple suffered a second blow when their family home, worth €312,325, and three neighbouring plots of land were also sold without their knowledge.

It took them five years to discover that they no longer owned any property in Thailand.

Sales documents seen by the Mail show that Sudarat sold the house for €92,541 in 2014, but that the same person signed as buyer and seller, which is illegal in the UK.

This person had claimed to have power of attorney over the couple, but the registry office was unable to produce a signed legal document attesting to this.

The couple attempted to file a lawsuit to reclaim the property, but at a hearing in December 2023, the new owner failed to appear and provided no evidence that he had paid the requested amount.

The judge, however, ruled against the couple, finding that they had not proven that the new owner had acted dishonestly and therefore presuming their innocence.

A warning for expats in Thailand

Couples on a beach in Thailand.

In a chilling warning to Britons dreaming of a new life abroad, Martin recounted how the paradise he had worked for decades to build collapsed and claims he was a victim of racism and corruption.

He said:

"We are completely ruined, we have lost our property and we have spent a lot of money on lawyers trying to settle this matter.

The couple tried to persuade the British embassy to demand answers from the Thai authorities regarding the theft of their building, but say they were met with hostility.

“We were evicted from our own home last year and we are living in a rental, we have no money.

I receive a small pension of less than 115 euros a month and my wife is a real estate broker, which brings in a little money, but it's only commissions.

We are barely making ends meet, the rent here is cheap and we pay 289 euros a month, but it is far from the life we ​​had planned.

In December of this year, my wife and I will both be 66 years old.

We could give up, move back to the UK and live on welfare as pensioners, but that's not us."

Sudarat said:

“My husband is not allowed to work in Thailand, so all the responsibility lies with me.

I didn't expect to still be working full time at 66, it's difficult.

I am so disappointed in our justice system, I had great faith in it, but I was so disappointed and betrayed by what happened to us."

The couple tried to persuade the British embassy to demand answers from the Thai authorities.

Two local MPs wrote to the ministry to report their imprisonment, but say they were told that pursuing the matter would not be in the national interest.

"This is a local property dispute between a British expatriate and criminals," he said.

"There is no British national interest in this matter, but they told me this to shut me up.

After that, they have nothing left to prove.

This should serve as a warning to others."

A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said:

"We have provided support to a British national detained in Thailand and have been in contact with local authorities."

Martin and Sudarat's testimony illustrates the risks of retiring abroad: behind the exotic dream can lie a real trap.

See also:

Nightmare retreat in Thailand: sentenced after being attacked

Why did an Australian expat leave his beloved Thailand?

Rejected by Thailand, low-income retirees flee to other Asian countries

The Guide to Retiring in Thailand: Everything You Need to Know

Thailand: Swiss man scammed while buying villa in Pattaya

Source: Daily Mail