The bodies of a Scots millionaire and his wife have been found buried in a garden.

Alan Hogg, of Edinburgh, and his wife Nott, went missing in Thailand on Thursday.

Their corpses were found buried two metres deep behind a duck pond in the garden of their 32-acre mansion estate.

Three alleged hitmen have confessed to killing the couple and burying them in Phrae, northern Thailand.

Mr Hogg, who was a director of a laundry company in Bonnyrigg, Edinburgh, was allegedly blasted with a shotgun near his swimming pool.

His wife Nott, 61, was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in the garage of their mansion.

The three men told police they received £1175 from Mr Hogg's brother-in-law, Warut Satchakit, 63, to carry out the murder amidst a family feud over money.

Mr Satchakit was initially arrested for stealing the couple's new white Ford Ranger pick-up truck. It was recovered on Monday in Ayutthaya having been sold.

The 63-year-old, who had fallen out with his sister over money, has been arrested after admitting to making the order over a family dispute.

Officers arrived at the home and used an excavator to dig an area next to the duck pond before discovering the two corpses with their shoes still on.

Major general Sanpat Praputsra said: ''Warut Satchakit has been arrested again for the theft of the car and being involved with the murder.

''Three suspects were traced from forensic checks on the car. They have confessed to the murder of Mr Alan and his wife Nott.

"They used a shotgun to kill Alan and said they buried him near the ducks.

''The alleged villains used a hammer to murder his wife in the garage.

"Three people were involved in the murders with the instructions that it was their duty to kill the targets. They said that the victims were then buried in the garden."

The men were arrested after police discovered Mr Hogg's pick-up truck on Monday and returned it for forensic examinations.

Investigators found the truck had been sold to nearby hill tribe people for 200,000 baht who then sold it to a man from Lao for 420,000 baht in Sukhothai last Friday.

The Laos man then drove it to Ayutthaya on a business trip until he learnt from media reports that police were looking for the vehicle and he contacted authorities.

The man turned the truck over to police in Ayutthaya on Sunday. He and the two sellers were then taken to Phra That Chor Hae police station to be interrogated.

Blood stains, with signs someone had tried to wipe them away, were found in the swimming pool changing rooms. A phone had been left charging in the living room.

The couple's daughter Robyn Hogg, 31, a production assistant, flew to Thailand from the UK after being alerted to her parents' disappearance.

Mr Hogg, a former engineer from Edinburgh, Scotland, had been involved with several businesses in the UK and was an active director of a laundry company in Bonnyrigg, Edinburgh.

Neighbours described his wife as ''the most beautiful woman in the town'' and said that Mr Hogg was ''very friendly'' and often helped them. JM