Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
YACHT BOSS ‘BOOZED IN 2 PUBS AS CREW DIED’
Four killed at sea after ‘urgent’ alert
A YACHT firm director carried on drinking after receiving an “urgent” warning that one of his vessels was taking on water, a court heard.
All four men on board died when the Cheeki Rafiki sank hours later.
Douglas Innes, the boss of Stormforce Coaching Limited, was in a pub when he got an email alert about the crisis.
He replied, advising the crew to make sure the life raft was ready to abandon ship, but he did not contact the UK Coastguard, the jury was told.
Innes, 43, faces four counts of manslaughter by gross negligence, which he denies.
Nigel Lickley, prosecuting, told Winchester crown court: “Despite what was happening at sea, he didn’t call the UK Coastguard to alert them at that time, but he went to another pub nearer to his home and carried on drinking.” He talked to the crew later, went home and rang the Coastguard, but “didn’t report any urgency”.
“He said the pumps were coping,” Mr Lickley told the jury.
Andrew Bridge, 22, of Farnham, Surrey; James Male, 22, of Southampton; and Steve Warren, 52, and Paul Goslin, 56, both from Somerset, were lost at sea. The 40ft Cheeki Rafiki sank after its keel fell off in bad weather as it returned from Antigua to the UK in May 2014. Bolts holding the three-tonne keel to the hull had failed, said Mr Lickley. He said Innes had neglected the vessel for years, by not maintaining it or having it inspected, and chose an unsafe route across the Atlantic. Innes, of Southampton, Hants, had a “duty of care” to the four men, Mr Lickley said.
The trial continues.