Stoney Cove: Diving instructor sentenced after student's death

Roger Clarke, 55, drowned after taking part in a training dive at Stoney Cove

An instructor has been sentenced after a novice diver drowned during a training session.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Lance Palmer was responsible for "multiple failings" following the death of Roger Clarke in Stoney Cove, Leicestershire, in June 2018.

Mr Clarke's wife says she now fears water following her husband's death.

Palmer was ordered to pay £3,085, including a victim surcharge of £85, and carry out 50 hours of unpaid work.

The HSE said Mr Clarke, 55, from Stafford, took part in the dive that was planned, managed and supervised by Palmer.

The father-of-two had enrolled on an entry-level Technical Diving International (TDI) Closed Circuit Rebreather Course, the HSE said.

It said its investigation found Palmer was responsible for multiple failings, including:

• Not adequately maintaining and checking students' breathing apparatus

• Failing to remain in close enough proximity to monitor his student, which meant he did not notice the audible and visual alarms sounding on breathing apparatus

• Contravening rules for exceeding maximum diving depths on repeat dives

• Failing to have an adequately-qualified rescue diver in the water with him and the student

'I cannot get into water'

The 59-year-old, whose business operates from Pillaton Hall Farm, in Penkridge, Staffordshire, admitted breaching section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

He was sentenced at Leicester Magistrates' Court on 25 January.

In a statement, Mr Clarke's wife, Angela Clarke, said: "From the day I lost Roger to this day I cannot get into water, not even a bath and I can't put my face into a shower.

"He was my world. We had a good lifestyle. We had everything. I lost my world and reason to live and all I wanted to do was curl up and die and to be with my husband.

"I have only one regret in my life - not being with my husband when he died."

The HSE called the death "a tragic and wholly avoidable incident, caused by the failure of Lance Palmer to plan, manage and conduct his diving training in accordance with the law and his training agency's rules".