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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Daniel Keane

Boyfriend of Hyde Park murder victim uncovers 'unusual' YouTube searches before death

The boyfriend of a woman who was murdered in her Westminster home has discovered “unusual” searches on her YouTube account in the hours after she disappeared.

Kamonnan Thiamphanit, 27, also known as Angela, was found with fatal stab wounds at 8.30am on April 8 at the mansion in Stanhope Place, near Hyde Park, that she had been renting as an Airbnb.

Friends have said that she left a board game party two days before her disappearance, claiming she needed to return home to deal with “an emergency”.

Police believe the suspected killer, who has not been identified publicly, fled the UK shortly after the murder.

Ms Thiamphanit’s boyfriend Chris Zeng told The Times that her YouTube search history between 2.38am and 7.26am on April 6 included music she “would never listen to” with lyrics about knife and gun violence.

Metadata on the account seen by newspaper reportedly shows that the music was playing through a television connected to her iPad while she was away and paused twice during the five hours it was playing.

The scene on Stanhope Place, Bayswater (PA Wire)

Data from Google Maps also reportedly showed that she made a journey from her friend’s flat in Aldgate East to the property in Hyde Park at 3.39am.

Last week, Ms Thiamphanit’s family claimed that she had agreed to rent out her home on April 5 for £30,000 to a man who had contacted her through Airbnb. The man is said to have boasted that he had “flown to London on a private jet”.

Mr Zeng, who was in a long-distance relationship with Ms Thiamphanit, said the man had inquired about renting the property but asked to visit before finalising the payment as he “wanted to see the property in person”.

The pair are thought to have met hours before Ms Thiamphanit left for the party.

The man had planned to move into the property that evening, while Ms Thiamphanit had organised to stay in a hotel as she awaited his payment.

Ms Thiamphanit stopped messaging her boyfriend but hours later began sending him messages in English, a language which they never used, the Times reported.

Friends of Ms Thiamphanit visited the property the following day after Mr Zeng received what he described as “suspicious” messages on Airbnb, from someone he believes was the murderer posing as his girlfriend.

The scene on Stanhope Place, Bayswater (Getty Images)

In a statement given to the Met Police following her death, Ms Thiamphanit’s family said: “We are unspeakably hurt by the loss of our dearly loved one and are sincerely thankful for the relentless efforts of the British police in investigating this tragic event.

“We believe that with the commendable teamwork and dedication of the police, this case will be resolved swiftly, thereby preventing any further innocent victims.”

Ms Thiamphanit, who had dual Chinese-Hong Kong and Thai nationality, had been living in the UK for around nine years, having initially come over to study at university.

The five-storey building where she died was the former home of the Ethiopian Embassy and is in a prime location close to Hyde Park.

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