Ferry man charged with deaths of three sailors

6:26am Friday 9th March 2007

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A ferry officer accused of the manslaughter of three sailors due to gross negligence has indicated he will deny the charges.

Best friends Rupert Saunders, 36, of Louisville Road, Tooting, James Meaby, 36, of Oakburn Road, Tooting, and Jason Downer, 35, from Kent, were all found dead in the water near the Isle of Wight after their 27ft yacht, the Ouzo, disappeared in August last year.

It is alleged the 37,500 tonne P&O ferry, Pride of Bilbao, was involved in an accident in the English Channel which led to the Ouzo's disappearance and the three men's deaths.

The ferry's officer of the watch, 61-year-old Michael Hubble, of Folkestone, attended a preliminary hearing relating to the charges at Winchester Crown Court last month.

In a brief hearing, defence counsel Oliver Saxby indicated Hubble, who was granted unconditional bail, would plead not guilty to the three counts at the next hearing.

The yachtsmen, all friends from school and described by their families as "competent, qualified sailors", had left Bembridge on the Isle of Wight on August 20 to sail to Devon and compete in the Bank Holiday Dartmouth Regatta.

However, they never arrived.

The bodies of all three men were found several days later following an extensive air and sea search.

The sailfish sloop boat they were sailing in, which belonged to Rupert Saunders and his brother Jamie, has never been found, and no alarm was raised from it prior to its disappearance.

Hubble was employed as an agency worker on the Pride of Bilbao at the time of the alleged offences.

The car ferry was en route from Portsmouth to Bilbao in Spain at the same time as the Ouzo disappeared.

An inquest, which was opened and adjourned into the deaths of the three men, heard Mr Meaby and Mr Downer had time to manually inflate their lifejackets.

The third crew member and skipper, Mr Saunders, was wearing a lifejacket which had automatically inflated.

The body of Mr Meaby was discovered in the sea 10 miles south of Nab Tower on August 22 and the bodies of Mr Downer and Mr Saunders were located south of St Catherine's Point a day later.

Mr Justice Royce adjourned the case until March 30 at the same court.