The family of six-year-old Daniel Charnaud is determined to give him as normal and happy a childhood as they can, after his Thai mother was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his father, Toby.

Pannada Charnaud, 35, the ex-wife of former Chippenham farmer Mr Charnaud, 41, was convicted of murder at the Petchaburi court along with two relatives and a neighbour and sentenced yesterday.

She was found guilty of hiring the three co-defendants to kill him at her farm, south of Bangkok. They first fired a gun at him and then beat him to death.

Mr Charnaud's parents, Jeremy and Sarah Charnaud, from West Kington, said the life sentence was the outcome they had been waiting for.

"Justice has been done," Mr Charnaud said.

"At last this is a chapter closed. It has gone on a long time, and we are very relieved and pleased to get to this stage. It's been horrific."

He said they had considered travelling to Thailand for the court case but after cancelled hearings and delays feared it would be a waste of time. "We would not have wanted to have been in a court with that woman either," he added.

Now the family are keen to get on with their lives and do all they can to give Daniel a settled life.

Mr and Mrs Charnaud, their daughter Hannah Allan and her husband have joint custody of Daniel, who attends a local school. "He enjoys school and he's as happy as the day is long," said Mr Charnaud.

"He knows what is happening in Thailand. The school has been very supportive. Inevitably when he gets older he will want to know more detail about what happened."

Daniel doesn't talk about his mother but has asked questions about his father. His family has talked to him about the local places where his father grew up.

"He's seen some pictures of him and his father and talks about them," said Mr Charnaud.

Suspicions proved tragically correct

Toby Charnaud, described by his friends as a warm, lovable man, was reported missing by his ex-wife in April last year.

But Mr Charnaud's family were suspicious and hired a private investigator. His charred remains were discovered six weeks later. Pannada Charnaud then admitted she had lied and that, on March 27 last year, she had helped dispose of her former husband's body.

In what could be seen as an eerie premonition, Mr Charnaud wrote a short story about an English expatriate killed by his Thai lover around two years before his death.

During an earlier court hearing a judge was told Pannada had Mr Charnaud killed so she could inherit his wealth and pay off her gambling debts.

However, Pannada told police Mr Charnaud had become involved with another woman and she was concerned about her son.

"She feared her son would face hardship and therefore wanted to kill her husband," according to testimony read out in court.

Fact file

FANATICAL traveller Toby Charnaud met his future wife Pannada during a holiday to Thailand in 1997, when she was working as a bar girl.

After they married in Thailand, the newlyweds moved back to Mr Charnaud's home village of West Kington, near Chippenham, where he helped his father run the family farm. Pannada, known as Som, worked at a nursery.

But after two years, the couple upped sticks to the Thai golf resort of Hua Hin where they bought and ran The Rainbow Bar.

In 2003 they divorced because of Panatda's gambling debts and Mr Charnaud was granted custody of their son Daniel. Daniel, now six, lives in Stanton St Quintin with his aunt and attends a local school.