Thailand’s Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence for a pair of Burmese migrants found guilty of murdering two British backpackers on a popular holiday island.

Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin had denied killing David Miller and raping and killing Hannah Witheridge on the resort island of Koh Tao in 2014.

They were quickly arrested after the tourists’ battered bodies were found on a beach on the morning of Sept. 15, 2014.

Police said Witheridge, 23, had been raped and bludgeoned to death and Miller, 24, had suffered blows to his head.

Lawyers for the two men had claimed evidence used in the case against them was mishandled and they made confessions under duress that they later retracted.

The police handling of the case also raised widespread domestic and international criticism.

Police were accused of buckling under pressure to solve a crime that made global headlines and threatened the Thai tourism industry, which accounts for about a fifth of the country’s economy.

Phyo and Lin were given the death penalty in 2015 – a verdict that was upheld by the appeal court in 2017.

Their appeal was then lodged with the supreme court, who upheld their convictions today.

The men’s legal team said it would seek a royal pardon within 60 days, as provided in Thai law.

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