Tragedy as British woman is found dead in Thai hotel pool hours after arriving to begin holiday of a lifetime with her partner

A British holidaymaker says his 'whole world dropped' when he discovered his partner had died in a swimming pool while he was sleeping just yards away in their Thai hotel.

Rachel Turner and Stefan Brown, from Wolverhampton, West Midlands, were just one week into a seven-week 'trip of a lifetime' to South-East Asia when the tragedy occurred.

It is believed Ms Turner had gone for an early morning swim in a pool at the Sofia Gardens Resort on the island of Koh Chang before she was found dead by a member of staff yesterday morning.

Mr Brown has now told of his heartbreak at the death of his 'soulmate', who he said he went to sleep cuddling but woke up to find had drowned.

Speaking from Thailand, Mr Brown said he was woken by the hotel manager yesterday and told what had happened.

He said: 'We had got up at 7am [the previous] morning because of jet lag, we hired out a motorbike and just drove around the island.

'We had the perfect day together. You keep getting these viewpoints and she was absolutely crying her eyes out.

'She had never been so happy and never seen anything so beautiful. She had never been out of Europe. I had always wanted to take her to Thailand.'

He added: 'We went to bed early because we were tired. We went to bed at 10pm cuddling and next thing I know I'm getting a bang on the door from the owner.

'I thought she had gone for a walk and had fallen asleep on a sun lounger and he couldn't wake her up.

'I went outside and thought "oh my God" - my whole world dropped. I don't want to say what I saw. It's just too hard at the moment.

'We had both had relationships before but we had found our soul-mates. Neither of us had ever been in love so much.'

It came just hours after Mr Brown posted a picture on Facebook of the view of the pool from the couple's hotel room balcony.

He wrote that the pair were listening to Coldplay song Paradise, and captioned the picture: 'The view from our bedroom window for the foreseeable future!'

Mr Brown is due at the local police station to give a statement today and but says he wants to remain in Thailand until he can bring Ms Turner's body home.

He said today: 'We both loved life. We had just set up a company, we were contemplating trying for children.

'I want to stay here until I can bring her body back but it could take a month to three months.

'I've got a good friend who lives out here so he's looking after me and my parents are both willing to fly out.' see more pictures after this cut....