Bigley's widow is 'devastated' say family

The Thai widow of British engineer Kenneth Bigley who was beheaded by his kidnappers in Iraq is too devastated to comment publicly on his death, her sister said today.

Sombat, who had been married to Mr Bigley for seven years, was informed of his death on Friday night, her sister Sunee Pansuk said from her home near the Thai capital Bangkok.

But Sombat was not yet ready to face the media, Sunee said.

“Whenever she talks, it sounds like she is going to cry,” she said.

A spokesman at the British Embassy in Bangkok said, however, that Sombat would probably release a statement to the press later today.

Sombat earlier went to the embassy to complete the paperwork related to her husband’s death, Sunee said.

Mr Bigley, 62, and two American colleagues were kidnapped from their house in Baghdad on September 16. Their captors beheaded the two Americans a few days later and threatened to do the same to Bigley unless Iraqi women were freed from prison.

Word that they had carried out their threat was released on Friday.

“It was quiet for a while,” said Sunee. “I thought that would mean something good. And then suddenly this happened. I don’t understand why it turned out to be like this.

“If he was killed at the very beginning, it would have been easier for us to accept it,” she said.

A US official said late yesterday that there had been credible reports that Bigley tried to escape with the aid of one of his captors. His attempt failed and he was executed a short time later.

Sombat, 35, has said she and her husband planned to retire soon to a house they just had built in Thailand. She had been expecting him to return from his posting in Iraq at the end of this month.

Sombat videotaped an emotional plea to his kidnappers for mercy on September 23, one day after footage appeared on an Islamic Web site showing Bigley pleading for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to help save his life.

“We have been married for seven years and I love him very much ... I desperately want to be reunited with my husband,” she said on the tape. “I plea for your mercy now, and beg that you release Ken so that I may be with him again.”

Sombat has regularly visited a Buddhist temple to burn incense and pray for her husband’s safe return. She said she would become a Buddhist nun for three days if her prayers for her husband’s safe return were answered.