Ex-william Hill lawyer falls from cabin balcony into sea
A CORPORATE lawyer who vanished on a luxury Mediterranean cruise ship fell feet first from a cabin balcony into the sea, a court heard.
Nigel Blythe-tinker, 72, former head of legal at gaming giant William Hill, went missing while on board the luxury cruise ship Seven Seas Mariner, the world’s first cruise liner with “all suite, all balcony” cabins, in July last year.
The High Court heard that the alarm was raised when Blythe-tinker, who also had a stint as chairman of Ladbrokes’ multibillion-pound parent company GVC Holdings, failed to disembark at Barcelona, having been on board when it departed Marseilles the previous day.
His family made “desperate attempts” to reach him, before staff on the ship found his cabin empty with “clothes folded neatly on the bed”.
Following evidence from Blythe-tinker’s daughters, judge Chief Master Karen Shuman declared that their father met his death after falling feet first into the sea from his cabin balcony in the early hours of July 22. The court heard that Blythe-tinker, who was originally from Worksop, Notts, had been married three times and has two adult daughters, Sophie and Claire Blythe-tinker.
He had been in the process of moving back to England after a period living in Australia when he vanished.
The cruise liner, which carries 700 passengers and 445 crew, was en route from Marseilles to Barcelona on July 21 2023 when Blythe-tinker, who had been in “constant contact” with his family, began to display unusual behaviour and send messages in which he “wasn’t himself ”. Blythe-tinker had been renovating a house in England he had bought near to the home of his “close” cousin Andrew Gilling and had told Mr Gilling he had been worried whether he had enough money to complete the project.
He told his cousin he had had “a suicidal thought” and also seemed confused in messages with other family members, his London-based daughter Sophie told the judge.
His family contacted staff on the ship and the onboard doctor was dispatched to check on the lawyer, who said he had “no suicidal thoughts” and was physically well apart from back pain.
The ship’s CCTV revealed footage of an object falling from the vessel.
The judge said: “Something descends from the ship at 4.28am. I’m prepared to accept that that was a body and the direction is consistent with it coming from the suite Mr Blythe-tinker was in.”