Bereaved father longs for justice after 11 years
Lamma man says Blair full of empty promises since his son was murdered by Khmer Rouge
The Hong Kong-based father of a Briton executed by the Khmer Rouge 11 years ago has accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of going back on a promise to try to bring his son's killers to justice.
Speaking ahead of today's 30th anniversary of the conquest of Phnom Penh that started the Year Zero regime, David Chappell says he has heard nothing for six years since Mr Blair wrote to him promising his son's case had not been forgotten.
Former Hong Kong model Dominic Chappell, 24, was kidnapped in 1994 along with Australian girlfriend Kellie Wilkinson and Briton Tina Dominy, both 23, as they drove from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, where Chappell and Wilkinson ran a restaurant. They were executed the next morning.
A foot soldier who fired one of the bullets, peasant-farmer Chuon Mean, was jailed for 15 years in 1995.
But the Khmer Rouge commander convicted and sentenced to 20 years in absentia for ordering the executions, General Sem Bo, is believed to be serving in the Cambodian army under an assumed name.
David Chappell, a 66-year-old former air force navigator who lives on Lamma, said information he passed to the Foreign Office in London six years ago about Sem Bo's whereabouts had been ignored.
Mr Chappell received a reply from Mr Blair after writing to him in 1999, on the fifth anniversary of his son's execution, saying the men responsible were being reintegrated into Cambodian society.
Mr Blair wrote: 'I can assure you that we have not forgotten your son ... We have made clear to the Cambodian government at every opportunity that we expect them to bring those responsible to justice.'
Mr Chappell said: 'It was a typical politician's promise. He probably said 'write something to this silly little man. Tell him we are looking after it'. Then they conveniently forget it and do nothing.
'I don't think Tony Blair has thought about it since. He is probably worse than the typical politician because he makes himself sound so sincere and right. He has no sense of shame.
'It is unimportant as far as he is concerned. I can understand that in a way. Unless someone keeps badgering them they let it go, because they have other things to worry about.'
Mr Chappell said that when he received fresh information about Sem Bo from investigative journalist Nate Thayer he again forwarded it to the British Foreign Office.
'It wasn't even acknowledged,' he said. 'Frankly, they weren't interested.'
Mr Chappell said he now held out little hope of the man who ordered the execution of his son being brought to justice.
'In a way, we got justice because one guy was sent away to jail,' he said.
'I suppose I did have a slight hope that things might be different under New Labour. But it is the Foreign Office which doesn't change - it doesn't matter who the political masters are.'
Mr Chappell said he could not keep on pursuing the case indefinitely. 'It's not just about me. It is the rest of the family, and Kellie's family, too.'
A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London said: 'We are looking into Mr Chappell's case.' But she was unable to provide any information about developments.
