PATTAYA, THAILAND – British entrepreneur and ASOS co-founder Quentin John Griffiths died on 9 February after a fall from a 17th-floor balcony in Pattaya, with investigators citing strong indications of suicide while the case remained officially unresolved.
Death after fall from the 17th floor
Griffiths, aged 58, fell on the evening of 9 February from a balcony in a high-rise building in Pattaya after police were alerted around 8:30 p.m. to a foreigner who had fallen from a great height.
Rescue workers found him unresponsive beside the building, declared him dead at the scene and cordoned off the area before sending the body for autopsy.
Locked apartment and CCTV footage
According to Police Colonel Anek Sarathongyoo, Griffiths lived alone in a 17th-floor unit whose door was double-locked from the inside and could only be secured internally.
Surveillance cameras showed him entering the apartment alone, and police said no other person was seen going in or out before officers arrived, so there were initially no immediate indications of third-party involvement.
Scene findings and investigative clues
Investigators reported no signs of forced entry or struggle in the apartment but noted evidence of alcohol consumption.
Two opened bottles of wine, a water bottle and a chair on the balcony pushed up to the railing, which police interpreted as a possible aid to climb over the edge, were among the documented findings.
Legal disputes and possible motive profile
Officers found extensive paperwork in the apartment and in his Chonburi-registered vehicle relating to two cases before Pattaya Provincial Court, listed under file numbers A310/2568 (black number, still pending) and A1355/2568 (red number, already decided).
Police said the disputes concerned a jointly run business with his estranged Thai wife, who accused him of embezzling around £500,000 and falsifying documents to sell land and company shares without her knowledge.
Criminal complaints, questioning and psychological pressure
Last year Griffiths was arrested following a complaint by his wife, questioned by investigators and later released, but the inquiries continued up to the time of his death.
In January 2025 he was, according to media reports, arrested again at Suvarnabhumi Airport on the same allegations, which he denied while insisting that all transactions had been carried out lawfully as the cases remained active.
Friend’s statement and police assessment
A Thai friend told investigators, according to the police report, that Griffiths had been clearly worried about the ongoing lawsuits and legal conflicts.
Police assessed this pressure, together with the case files found in his car and apartment, as a relevant factor and currently viewed the overall situation as pointing to a likely suicide, while not definitively ruling out other scenarios.
Public denials by estranged wife
His 43-year-old estranged Thai wife Ploy Kringsinthanakun, with whom he had been married for five years and had two children, denied any involvement in his death in an interview with the British newspaper Daily Mail.
She stressed that she had been in Bangkok at the time in question and not in Pattaya, saying she had
“absolutely nothing to do with it.”
said Ploy Kringsinthanakun, estranged wife.
ASOS career and wealth
Griffiths was one of the co-founders of ASOS, which launched in 2000 under the name As Seen On Screen and was renamed in 2003, initially helping to lead marketing before leaving after four years while retaining a significant stake.
He benefited from the online fashion retailer’s expansion into more than 150 markets and, according to reports, realised around £15 million each in 2010 and 2015 through share sales, later bringing a lawsuit against BDO because he believed allegedly faulty tax advice had cost him more than £4 million.
Life in Pattaya and family images on social media
After divorcing his first wife in the United Kingdom, Griffiths moved permanently to Pattaya in 2007 and later married a Thai woman, with whom he had a son and a daughter before that marriage also ended.
Social media photos showed him with the children on trips to Swiss ski resorts, Paris and Bournemouth, on luxury holidays with first-class flights and five-star hotels, and taking part in activities at an orphanage in Pattaya, with the last known image dating from 2021.
Responses from ASOS and UK authorities
A spokeswoman for ASOS said the company was deeply affected by his death and praised him as one of the original co-founders who had made a formative contribution in the firm’s early phase.
The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office stated that it was supporting Griffiths’ family and was in contact with Thai authorities, while forensic examinations could take months and, under Thai law, the investigation would officially continue until the final autopsy report was issued.