A Thai thug who tried to rape a Swiss diplomat then murdered her at a beauty spot while high on drugs has been jailed for life.

Teerawat Thothip, 27, pounced on Nicole Sauvain-Weisskopf, 57, while she was sitting in the natural pool at the secluded Ao Yon waterfall in Phuket, Thailand, on August 3 last year.

He admitted strangling her face down in the shallow water then tearing off her clothes to try and rape her before covering her dead body and stealing 300 Baht (6.86 GBP).

Locals found the body of Nicole, deputy protocol chief of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, shortly after and police launched a murder and rape investigation.

Teerawat was arrested and taken on a crime re-enactment on August 8 where he demonstrated on a policeman lying face down in the water how he strangled Nicole to death.

He was remanded in custody and sentenced at the Phuket Court on Tuesday afternoon March 15 to death commuted to life in prison because he pleaded guilty to murder. The attempted rape and indecent assault charges were dismissed due to the severity of the murder sentence.

The victim's grieving husband Mark Emal Soven and two sons watched from Switzerland on a video link as the verdict was delivered.

Police praised the verdict and offered their condolences to Nicole's family.

A spokesman said: 'We would like to thank the investigating officers involved, the prosecutors and the Phuket Provincial Court for bringing the killer to justice.

'We are in contact with the relatives of the deceased and our thoughts are with them.'

The court heard how Teerawat had taken methamphetamine and marijuana when he became aroused after seeing Nicole alone wearing shorts, a small top and dabbling her feet in the water.

Teerawat told police he walked up behind the woman and grabbed her but she struggled. He held her in a chokehold and forced her head into the water until she became unconscious and passed out. The attacker said he dragged Nicole onto the shore and removed her shorts and knickers with the intention of raping her but saw her face turning pale and 'lost his desire'.

Teerawat then covered her body with a black sheet and fled the scene with 300 Baht in small change stolen from her pockets.

The killer told police: 'On the day of the murder, I went to the waterfall in search of mushrooms, then I saw the foreign woman so I went to strangle her from behind to steal because she looked like she had money.

'But the foreign woman resisted and tried to fight back so I strangled her and pressed her head in the water. After the foreign woman died, I looked for a black plastic bag around the area to cover her body and took 300 Baht from her. '

A passing local found the body of Nicole after it had been left for more than 24 hours at the waterfall. Her blue denim shorts had been removed and a pair of Nike trainers and mobile phone were found nearby.

A stack of business cards with her work email address and details of her job in the Swiss parliament as 'chief of protocol' were found in her jacket pocket. Police later released her passport details to identify her.

Devastated colleagues paid tribute to the government worker.

Swiss ambassador Helene Budliger Artieda said there had been 'very sad and disturbing moments'.

She added: 'My thoughts are with the family of the victim.'

Officers said that Nicole had visited Phuket under the country's 'Sandbox' scheme for vaccinated tourists.