Co-founder of ASOS, Quentin Griffiths, dies in Thailand after balcony fall

BANGKOK, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Quentin Griffiths, who co-founded British fast-fashion retailer ASOS, has died after a fall from a balcony in Thailand, Thai police said on Friday.

Police told Reuters that Griffiths, 58, had fallen from the 17th floor of an apartment block in the seaside resort city of Pattaya on February 9.

The police went to the scene and found the body of a British national, whom they identified as Quentin John Griffiths, on the ground directly below the balcony.

Initial investigations suggest suicide and there are no indications of foul play, police said. CCTV showed no sign of anybody entering his apartment, where he had lived alone, but his body has been sent for an autopsy, they added.

The police also quoted a Thai friend of Griffiths as saying the Briton had been worried about lawsuits from his former wife, a Thai national.

Documents related to those lawsuits were found in his apartment, the police said.

The case did not initially attract media attention in Pattaya, which has a large contingent of foreign residents, until The Sun newspaper in Britain reported it on Thursday.

Griffiths was a co-founder of ASOS in 2000 and remained a large shareholder after leaving the company.

(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Kay JohnsonEditing by Gareth Jones)