Family of Briton killed "devastated at loss"

Family of Stephen Ashton, a Briton, killed by a stray bullet while celebrating the new year on Koh Phangan on Tuesday have issued a statement, saying "as a family, we are completely devastated by the loss of Stephen from our lives.

He has been taken away from us in such cruel and tragic circumstances in which he was an innocent bystander simply enjoying New Year celebrations," according to the Daily Mail.

'We are comforted in the thought that he was having a fantastic time with friends after such a difficult period following the loss of his much loved dad who passed away from a brain tumor in 2011 and the loss of his granddad a few months earlier."

He was described as a muchloved son, brother, grandson and nephew and he will be truly missed by his family but also by the many friends he made during his life. "We cannot comprehend how someone can carry out such a reckless act, giving such little value to human life."

The Daily Mail quoted his sister Emily, 20, as saying, "it is such a shock and the family are still trying to get their heads round it. It hasn't sunk in.

"He was just on a holiday and we are trying to come to terms with it."

Ashton, a barrister's clerk who then became a junior trader for a city firm, had recently quit his job to go travelling in Australia with a stopoff in Thailand.