A naked Swiss pensioner was found dead with a piece of sharp metal embedded in his skull in his home in Thailand.

Peter Wirth, 67, was discovered without any clothes by shocked neighbours on the bedroom floor of his single-storey home in Ratchaburi province at around 6am local time on February 2.

The ex-pat was lying on his right side on the floor next to the bed. No traces of struggle were found inside his room, and his belongings were also still intact, police said.

However, officers said there was a 3cm long 'sharp object' that was stuck around 1cm deep into his right temple. They are now investigating the death.

Restaurant owner and Peter's friend Suwin Kamcharoen, 60, told police she noticed his absence after he did not show up for dinner that evening. She visited his house and saw that the lights were turned off, but the kitchen door was left open.

Suwin called out to Peter, but received no response, so she decided to enter his home to check on him. However, she was horrified to see her friend - who had just been walking his dog earlier that morning - lying naked and lifeless on the floor.

She said: ‘I have known him for seven years. Back when I had a restaurant in the Sukhumvit area in Bangkok, Peter would visit my restaurant every time he came to Thailand because he liked my cooking.

‘I opened another restaurant in Ratchaburi province and I invited him over. When the Covid situation improved, he rented my land and built a house.'

Suwin added that Peter would talk every day to his two children he left behind in Switzerland.

A post mortem examination found that a 3cm-long sharp object had penetrated about 1cm into the man's right temple. He had reportedly been dead for more than 8 hours before he was discovered.

Police Colonel Nawapol Hankhunthod said: ‘It is possible that he might have slipped and hit his head on the bed, causing his death. Or he may have been robbed and was hit with a sharp tool.

‘We are now doing a thorough search on the property while investigators look over the CCTV footage on the outside of the building.'