Relatives made 'threats' following diver's Cape Wrath death

Lex Warner died during a diving expedition off northern Scotland in 2012

A man has told a court he was "threatened" by the family of a diver who died following a descent from a charter boat towards a shipwreck.

Neil Plant, 47, told lawyers he contacted police after receiving messages from relatives of 50-year-old Lex Warner, which he said were abusive.

Mr Plant was on the charter boat on the day of Mr Warner's death in 2012.

He said he had no safety concerns about the boat or the competency of its skipper Andy Cuthbertson.

A damages claim raised on behalf of Mr Warner's nine-year-old son, Vincent, is being heard at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

Mr Plant said members of Mr Warner's family told him he was not telling the truth about his account of what happened on 14 August 2012 off Cape Wrath in the north Highlands.

• Boy, nine, sues over father's diving death

The critical care medic told lawyer Robert Milligan QC he did not provide a statement to solicitors acting for the Warner family but co-operated with lawyers acting for Mr Cuthbertson.

Mr Milligan, who is acting for Mr Warner's son, said: "Mr Plant, you were happy to give a statement to Mr Cuthbertson's solicitors but not Mrs Warner's. Why?"

Mr Plant replied: "I received threatening phone calls from the Warner family, just basically disputing that I was telling the truth and I ended up having to go to the police because they threatened my family.

"It was totally unsolicited but at the time it made me feel very uncomfortable and it was quite upsetting at the time.

"So I just decided to have a sort of a conversation with Mr Cuthbertson's people."

Lex Warner's wife Debbie has taken legal action on behalf of their son Vincent, who is now nine

Mr Milligan then asked: "So do you consider there to be some animosity between you and the Warner family then?"

Mr Plant replied: "Well, yeah, I genuinely don't understand why. It was totally unsolicited. I totally appreciate they were going through a horrendous time.

"It was horrible for everybody involved. I fully sympathise - I can't empathise because I haven't been in their position.

"But there was no reason for anything and it was very much out of the blue.

"It happened, like I say, a good few years after and they phoned up reputing to be reporters and journalists and eventually admitted they were the family. They made threats that if I didn't tell the truth, they knew where I lived and things like that."

Mr Plant was giving evidence on the second day of an action brought by Mr Warner's widow Debbie, from Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, on Vincent's behalf.

She is suing the company which owned the MV Jean Elaine - Orkney-based Scapa Flow Charters - for £500,000.

The Stromness company is contesting the action.

On Wednesday, Mr Plant told the court that he had known Mr Warner because they were both members of the technical diving community.

He said that before the 2012 accident he had been on Mr Cuthbertson's boat in four consecutive years and did not have any concerns about safety on the boat.

He said: "I definitely got to have a good relationship with Andy.

"I found him to be a good skipper. He was very switched on. There was no sort of messing around. He knew what he was doing.

"He was very experienced and I think we all felt comfortable - or I know I did - doing the sort of diving that we were doing with him as our skipper on our boat."

'Never dived again'

Andrew Smith QC - who is acting for Scapa Flow Charters - then asked Mr Plant if he had any concerns about Mr Cuthbertson's capabilities as a boat skipper or his attention to safety considerations.

Mr Plant said no. He then added: "I will be brutally honest - if I did I wouldn't have dived on the boat. I wouldn't have gone back if I didn't think he was fit for purpose, to take us out and put us on deep wrecks and provide us with support.

"So, no I didn't have any concerns."

He also said he did not have any concerns about the state of the Jean Elaine.

Mr Plant said he no longer dives, adding: " I never dived after that day back in August 2012. I never, ever dived again. I stopped diving and I sold my equipment.

"I kept in touch with friends obviously but I've never been back in the water again."

Mr Smith then asked him whether he stopped diving because of Mr Warner's death. Mr Plant said the death of Mr Warner was just one of the reasons.

IT company director Paul Mee, 49, was also on the Jean Elaine with Mr Warner on the day he died.

He described Mr Warner as being a "cracking bloke" having got to know him through the diving community.

Mr Mee told the court he also did not have any concerns about safety on the boat or Mr Cuthbertson's ability as a skipper. He said he had been on the boat several times since the 1990s and was a repeat customer of Scapa Flow Charters.

Speaking about Mr Cuthbertson, Mr Mee said: "He was always, very, very good.

"The thing is if a skipper in the diving community isn't very good, you tend not to go ever go back again. Why would you waste your time or money on it?

"It was always very safe and he was a bit of a genius really at what he did. That's why we went back."

The action claims there was fault and neglect on the part of Scapa Flow Charters in failing to take reasonable care for the safety of Mr Warner.

The company maintains that Mr Warner, an industrial cleaning contractor, had a duty to walk across the deck carefully because of the heavy equipment he was wearing along with diving fins.

It is contended that Mr Warner's decision to dive resulted in him experiencing increased levels of abdominal pain due to underwater pressure which in turn led to rapid ascent and death.

The hearing before Lord Sandison continues.