Widow vows: I want answers Court throws out legal case against charter boat owners after diving tragedy
ADEVASTATED widow whose husband drowned on a diving trip cannot take legal action against the boat owners, judges have ruled.
But Debbie Warner, whose husband Lex Warner died in 2012, can pursue a case as guardian to their five-year-old son Vincent.
Mr Warner died during a dive off Cape Wrath, Britain’s most northwesterly point. An inquest was told how the company director suffered “chronic injuries” after falling in full gear on the deck of the chartered boat, Jean Elaine, but still wanted to dive, assuring the skipper and other members of his team that he was OK.
He suffered injuries so severe in the fall that “if he had not dived, his condition would have still reached serious medical emergency level”, the inquest heard.
The cause of death was drowning and traumatic liver injury.
Last month, Scotland’s Inner House of the Court of Session upheld the e decision to dismiss the negligencee claim by Mrs Warner against boat t owners ScapaFlow Charters as “timebarred”, meaning it was lodged too late. But it ruled that her claim as guardian of Vincent was not timebarred.
Mr Warner, from Minworth, Sutton Coldfield, was a member of the elite Dark Star diving team and taught the sport. The 50-year-old had dived to a depth of 88 metres – he planned to hit 95 metres – when he began to feel unwell.
By the time he was hauled back on to the 73-tonne boat he had stopped breathing. Attempts to save him by crew members and specially trained coastguards, flown out to the vessel, proved unsuccessful.
To add to the terrible tragedy, Mrs Warner had informed her husband by phone only hours before his death that she was pregnant. She lost the child only weeks after the accident.
The 44-year-old widow admits she does not view the appeal court decision as a victory.
“I’m further back now than when I started,” she said. “I have a five-yearold, but I now have to travel to Scotland to find a new law firm to represent us. To be honest, it would have been easier to walk away but I’m determined to see it through.”
Mrs Warner’s attempt to take the boat company to court for negligence was kicked out because the legal action was started more than two years after the tragedy. She had contacted solicitors six months after losing her husband.
She has received an apology from the company representing her, Edin- burgh-based Thompsons solicitors. A letter from the firm stated: “I have to apologise profusely for matters having reached this stage.”
Mr Warner was on a week-long search for Second Warold War wrecks when he lost his life.
Captain Gavin Pritchard, an inspector for the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), told the inquest the diving group had not been warned of the dangers of walking on deck in full diving gear, although there was a significant risk when doing so in a boat on the open sea.
The Jean Elaine’s skipper, Andrew Cuthbertson, said he was satisfied with the safety arrangements on his boats and the inquest recorded a verdict of accidental death.
Mrs Warner still struggles to come to terms with the tragedy. “I do not know why,” she said. “That is why I continue to search for answers. I am not bitter – I am frustrated.
“He had been diving for 15 years, he was an instructor, he was top of the tree. Safety was always of paramount importance. He wouldn’t go in the water if he as much as stubbed his toe.”
A MAIB report into the accident stated: “Having only completed one of the three previous dives on the expedition this far, and compounded by the weight of the equipment, discomfort of wearing warm underclothing and a dry suit on a sunny day, it is likely that Mr Warner would have felt very motivated to begin the dive.”
I do not know ‘why?’ That is why I continue to search for answers. Debbie Warner