Shoreham sea deaths: Skipper David Marr jailed over trio's drowning

David Marr was jailed for 12 months

The captain of a trawler which swamped a small boat, causing it to sink and three men to drown, has been jailed.

Mircea "Mitch" Ilie, 40, Irinel Popovici, 41, and Treaiam Dumitrache, 50, died on an overnight fishing trip on the James 2 in August 2017.

Water engulfed their boat when it was passed by a vessel skippered by David Marr, off Shoreham, West Sussex.

Marr, from Aberdeenshire, was jailed for 12 months after being convicted of not keeping a proper lookout.

The 55-year-old, from Peterhead, was sentenced following a trial at Lewes Crown Court, which was sitting at Brighton Magistrates' Court.

A boat tracking systems shows the two vessels on a collision course

Sole survivor Elvis Cojocariu was found alive by a fisherman after the sinking, suffering from hypothermia.

The four Romanian friends had been on board the James 2, when Marr's trawler, called the Vertrouwen, "passed extremely close to it", the jury was told.

The Vertrouwen, a scallop trawler, left the port of Shoreham at 00:07 BST on 6 August 2017, with four crew on board.

Marr, who had 35 years of experience, took the first watch.

Mircea Ilie (left), Irinel Popovici (centre) and Traiam Dumitrache (right) all drowned off Shoreham

At 00:24 he sent a WhatsApp message to a friend, and a minute later, unknown to Marr, the trawler passed the James 2, swamping it and causing it to sink.

Mr Cojocariu told the court the crew had seen the Vertrouwen from about 1km (0.6 miles) away, and all four had been signalling "like mad" as it approached, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

However the trawler carried on in the same direction and at the same speed and the boat was swamped by waves, a CPS spokeswoman said.

Mr Cojocariu described having a "clear view of the Vertrouwen's deck as she passed by and that he couldn't see anyone there," she said.

David Marr, who was on watch on the Vertrouwen, sent a WhatsApp message one minute before it swamped the smaller boat

David Marr, 53, of Tower Hill, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, denies failing to maintain a proper lookout

Marr claimed he had not seen the smaller vessel's navigation or cabin lights, or the head torches of the men on board.

The jury was told Marr had been unaware that the boat had sunk until a crew member told him "there was an incident off Shoreham the night before".

Libby Clark, from the CPS, said: "Instead of constantly checking to ensure he knew what was out there, it appears [Marr] 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 three men were about to die as a result of his not keeping a proper look out.

"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."

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