scuba_katt
Contributor
By Martin Halfpenny, PA
A Royal Navy Petty Officer killed a trainee diver because he allowed him to dive on a full stomach and he choked on his vomit while under water, a court heard today.
Lieutenant Paul McAulay, 27, got into difficulties just 20 minutes after eating his evening meal while on a Navy diving course at Horsea Lake, Portsmouth, in November 2002, Winchester Crown Court was told.
Jonathan Fuller QC, prosecuting, said supervising instructor Anthony Watt, 41, was allegedly responsible for the death because he failed to adhere to safety guidelines that said no-one should dive for two hours after a heavy meal.
Mr Fuller told the jury that Watt also did not have a person in diving kit ready to help married Lt McAulay when it became apparent he was in trouble as the dive took place in the dark.
The delay of seven minutes while a diver was summoned from the shore made matters worse, the court heard.
Watt, of Roundway, Waterlooville, Hampshire, denies one count of manslaughter due to gross negligence and a health and safety charge of failing to take reasonable care of Lt McAulay.
Mr Fuller said Lt McAulay, from Clackmananshire, who was the Navys bobsleigh champion, was on day nine of a 20-day course when he ate a heavy meal on November 28. Shortly after the course he was summoned back to a classroom.
Within perhaps as little as 10-15 minutes of his returning to the classroom, he was outside in the training lake, dressed in a dry suit, face mask and snorkel, trying to retrieve a marker located at the bottom of the lake at a depth of six metres, Mr Fuller said.
The court heard that the young officer made two attempts from an inflatable boat to reach the marker by holding his breath before finally going under the water for the fatal third attempt just 20 minutes after finishing the meal.
The consequence of his exertions was that he vomited. He inhaled the vomit into his windpipe and his upper airway and he struggled for breath, Mr Fuller said.
The jury heard that Lt McAulay was unconscious in seconds, suffered a heart attack and descended to the bottom of the lake.
All hope for a person in Lt McAulays position is not lost providing a casualty can be retrieved within a few minutes, Mr Fuller said.
Up above him in the inflatable were two men, neither whom were dressed for diving, let alone diving in the dark, he said.
The jury was told that one of the men called to Watt, who was 30 metres away on a jetty, for help. He ran to a room 100 metres away to get a diver, who finally arrived seven minutes later and found Lt McAulay at the bottom of lake. Efforts to revive him failed.
Mr Fuller said that Watt was an experienced diving instructor who knew the safety regulations but he had not used them.
This defendant, through this grossly negligent conduct, caused the death of Lt McAulay, he said.
He did not set out to do it intentionally but his failure to respect fundamental rules of safety put the diver at risk of death.
There was no-one at hand to bring him up to the surface in time and failure to respect the rules about eating fell so below the standards of care as to be criminal.
Mr Fuller added: We say his conduct can be rightfully judged as a gross dereliction of duty.
The jury was told that Watt had been at the diving school on and off since 1997, was experienced and lectured the students on safety issues.
But the breath-hold diving technique that Lt McAulay was using when he died was not on the course syllabus.
When interviewed by police, Watt said the death was a tragic accident.
The trial is expected to last four weeks
A Royal Navy Petty Officer killed a trainee diver because he allowed him to dive on a full stomach and he choked on his vomit while under water, a court heard today.
Lieutenant Paul McAulay, 27, got into difficulties just 20 minutes after eating his evening meal while on a Navy diving course at Horsea Lake, Portsmouth, in November 2002, Winchester Crown Court was told.
Jonathan Fuller QC, prosecuting, said supervising instructor Anthony Watt, 41, was allegedly responsible for the death because he failed to adhere to safety guidelines that said no-one should dive for two hours after a heavy meal.
Mr Fuller told the jury that Watt also did not have a person in diving kit ready to help married Lt McAulay when it became apparent he was in trouble as the dive took place in the dark.
The delay of seven minutes while a diver was summoned from the shore made matters worse, the court heard.
Watt, of Roundway, Waterlooville, Hampshire, denies one count of manslaughter due to gross negligence and a health and safety charge of failing to take reasonable care of Lt McAulay.
Mr Fuller said Lt McAulay, from Clackmananshire, who was the Navys bobsleigh champion, was on day nine of a 20-day course when he ate a heavy meal on November 28. Shortly after the course he was summoned back to a classroom.
Within perhaps as little as 10-15 minutes of his returning to the classroom, he was outside in the training lake, dressed in a dry suit, face mask and snorkel, trying to retrieve a marker located at the bottom of the lake at a depth of six metres, Mr Fuller said.
The court heard that the young officer made two attempts from an inflatable boat to reach the marker by holding his breath before finally going under the water for the fatal third attempt just 20 minutes after finishing the meal.
The consequence of his exertions was that he vomited. He inhaled the vomit into his windpipe and his upper airway and he struggled for breath, Mr Fuller said.
The jury heard that Lt McAulay was unconscious in seconds, suffered a heart attack and descended to the bottom of the lake.
All hope for a person in Lt McAulays position is not lost providing a casualty can be retrieved within a few minutes, Mr Fuller said.
Up above him in the inflatable were two men, neither whom were dressed for diving, let alone diving in the dark, he said.
The jury was told that one of the men called to Watt, who was 30 metres away on a jetty, for help. He ran to a room 100 metres away to get a diver, who finally arrived seven minutes later and found Lt McAulay at the bottom of lake. Efforts to revive him failed.
Mr Fuller said that Watt was an experienced diving instructor who knew the safety regulations but he had not used them.
This defendant, through this grossly negligent conduct, caused the death of Lt McAulay, he said.
He did not set out to do it intentionally but his failure to respect fundamental rules of safety put the diver at risk of death.
There was no-one at hand to bring him up to the surface in time and failure to respect the rules about eating fell so below the standards of care as to be criminal.
Mr Fuller added: We say his conduct can be rightfully judged as a gross dereliction of duty.
The jury was told that Watt had been at the diving school on and off since 1997, was experienced and lectured the students on safety issues.
But the breath-hold diving technique that Lt McAulay was using when he died was not on the course syllabus.
When interviewed by police, Watt said the death was a tragic accident.
The trial is expected to last four weeks
