John Dawson Dewhirst (1952 – c. August 1978) was a British teacher and amateur yachtsman who was one of nine westerners, and two Britons, known to have been killed by the Khmer Rouge during the rule of Pol Pot. Early life Dewhirst was born in the Jesmond district of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1952. His father was a headmaster, and his mother ran an antiques shop. In 1963, at age 11, the Dewhirst family moved to Cumbria. While growing up in Cumbria, Dewhirst became a sports enthusiast, and took a liking to outdoor activities. He spent most of his boyhood roaming the Cumbrian countryside. At Appleby Grammar School, Dewhirst developed a love for poetry and aspired to be a novelist. After finishing his A Levels, he won an English scholarship to study at Loughborough University. While studying at Loughborough University, he trained as a teacher. After receiving his degree in teaching, his desire for adventure and to become a writer led him to travel to Tokyo, Japan to teach English in 1977. Dewhirst also worked for The Japan Times from June 1977 to January 1978. Disappearance Some time in July 1978, while visiting a friend in the eastern Malaysian town of Kuala Terengganu, and en route from Japan back to England, Dewhirst met Canadian Stuart Glass and New Zealander Kerry Hamill, co-owners of a little Malaysian bedar named Foxy Lady. The three spent several weeks or a month together in Kuala Terengganu, and then headed north to Bangkok. For reasons that are unclear, Foxy Lady ended up in Cambodian waters and was seized, off Koh Tang, by a patrol vessel attached to Division 164 of the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea. Foxy Lady may have been on its way to Bangkok to pick up a load of Thai sticks. Glass had engaged in hashish smuggling before. Dewhirst's history in this area is unknown. His Kuala Terengganu friend has recalled Dewhirst speaking of planned adventures. Glass was shot and killed, or drowned, during the seizure. Dewhirst and Hamill may have been held for several days on a nearby island, and were then taken to the interrogation centre of S-21. S-21 records In early 1979, Vietnam defeated Democratic Kampuchea and overthrew the Pol Pot regime. They liberated Democratic Kampuchea's S-21 prison in the capital Phnom Penh where an estimated 20,000 people (the real number is unknown) had been sent for torture and execution