An Australian man accused of murdering a teenage girl before hiding her body in a suitcase was paying $100 a week to live in an apartment block in Thailand’s seedy red-light district.

A man from Ballarat is in custody after the body of a teenage girl was found in a suitcase in Thailand.

Thai media is reporting that Simon Peter Carman, 46, was detained at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok while attempting to leave the country.