Skipper ‘was sending WhatsApp messages as his trawler sank another boat and killed three anglers’

A SKIPPER was sending WhatsApp messages as his fishing trawler sank another boat, killing three anglers, a court was told. David Marr, 55, was allegedly “entirely unaware” his 85ft vessel Vertrouwen was heading for a tiny boat, with four anglers frantically shouting and waving torches. Though the scallop dredger narrowly missed the fibreglass boat, James […]

A SKIPPER was sending WhatsApp messages as his fishing trawler sank another boat, killing three anglers, a court was told.

David Marr, 55, was allegedly “entirely unaware” his 85ft vessel Vertrouwen was heading for a tiny boat, with four anglers frantically shouting and waving torches.

Brighton Pictures

David Marr was allegedly texting while his fishing trawler sank another boat, killing three[/caption]

Though the scallop dredger narrowly missed the fibreglass boat, James 2, a large wave sank it.

Mircea Ilie, 40, Irinel Popovici, 41, Traiam Dumitrache, 50, and Elvis Cojocariu, 45 — Romanian nationals — were not wearing life-jackets but jumped into the sea.

Only Mr Cojocariu did not drown, swimming for hours to the shore a mile and a half away, Brighton crown court heard.

Marr, of Peterhead, Aberdeen, denies failing to keep a proper lookout off Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, in August 2017.

The case continues.

EDDIE MITCHELL

Marr denies failing to keep a proper lookout off Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex[/caption]

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