The funeral service will be held today of a British yachtsman who was killed by pirates as he and his wife sailed off the coast of Thailand.

Malcolm Robertson, 64, is believed to have been bludgeoned with a hammer and then thrown overboard off the Andaman sea coast as he sailed with his wife Linda.

Fishermen found the body of Mr Robertson, a successful businessman from Hastings, a week later - 10 nautical miles north of Satun's Lipeh Island.

Three migrant workers, aged 19, 18 and 17, from neighbouring Burma were arrested on a raft about half a mile from the couple's 44ft yacht and charged.

Today a funeral service will be held at St John's Church in Pevensey Road, St Leonards, near Hastings, followed by a cremation, Mr Robertson's brother-in-law John Clee said.

The couple's four children, two each from previous marriages, flew to Thailand to support Mrs Robertson, 57, as intensive efforts by the Thai authorities were made to find his body.

The family had to endure several false reports of his body being found before official confirmation came through that fishermen had discovered it in the sea.

Mr Clee, 63, from Battle, near Hastings, said that the family felt a sense of relief as it had been their greatest fear that his body would never be found.

Mrs Robertson detailed her ordeal during 10 hours of testimony in a court in Satun, describing how the attackers tied her hands and feet and how she heard her husband tell them: “Get off my boat.”

In interviews, she said the attackers behaved like they were having a picnic after killing her husband as they ate food, laughed and joked.

Mrs Robertson feared for her life as the offenders kept her tied up in the cabin of their yacht for around 10 hours, but they eventually fled the vessel.

Mr Robertson owned a chain of coffee shops around his home town of Hastings but passed the running of the business to his children and was semi-retired.

He was fulfilling a life-long dream of spending winter months sailing around warmer climes with his wife in his yacht, called Mr Bean after his coffee chain.

The couple, both qualified yacht masters who had sailed round the world, had been married for 25 years and had seven grandchildren between them.