Boat skipper jailed after fatal near miss
The James 2 vessel was swamped and sank in 2017
A boat skipper involved in a near-miss off the coast of West Sussex in which three men drowned has been jailed.
David Marr, 55, was in charge of the Vertrouwen vessel during the incident back in 2017.
Prosecutors said he'd not been paying enough attention or he would've seen men aboard the James 2 vessel "frantically signalling to him in a bid to avert disaster".
Just after midnight on August 6, the Vertrouwen passed extremely close to the James 2, which swamped and sank.
Romanian nationals Mercea Ilea, 40, Irinel Popovici, 41, and Treaiam Dumitrache, 50, were aboard the James 2 and drowned.
A fourth man on board, Elvis Cojocariu, was found the next morning suffering from hypothermia.
Marr, of Towerhill in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, was found guilty of failing to maintain a proper lookout following a trial at Brighton Crown Court and was jailed for 12 months.
Libby Clark, from the CPS, said: “It was our case that David Marr had not been paying sufficient attention, if any, when he was on watch.
“Had he done so, he would have seen the men, who were frantically signalling to him in a bid to avert disaster.
“Instead of constantly checking to ensure he knew what was out there, it appears he was doing other things and, even after his actions caused the James 2 to sink, he continued to sail on, oblivious to the fact that a boat was sinking and that three men would lose their lives as a result of his not keeping a proper lookout.
“The evidence showed that he would have been able to see the lights on the boat for six minutes before the near-miss, yet he continued to sail directly towards the boat with tragic consequences.
“It was not unusual for small fishing boats, like the James 2, to be in this area and the defendant should have been alert to that, and David Marr should have been using every means available to him, as required by maritime regulations, to establish what, if anything, might be in the sea ahead.”