Six-year-old boy wins right to sue over father's death in diving accident

A six-year-old boy has won the right to sue a dive charter company for negligence over the death of his father.

Lex Warner, 50, from Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, died in 2012 during a diving expedition near Cape Wrath in Scotland.

His widow Debbie Warner sought damages from Scapa Flow Charters (SFC), but was told that she had run out of time to take action.

In a unanimous judgment the Supreme Court has now ruled there is no time-bar for Ms Warner to take legal action as the guardian of her son.

Ms Warner, who lives in Birmingham, travelled to the Supreme Court in to hear the judgement.

“This case needs to go to court. It’s very distressing. There are a lot of unanswered questions. I did not find out he was dead for 24 hours after what happened,” she said.

Mr Warner was an experienced recreational diver and was preparing to dive from the MV Jean Elaine, a boat hired from SFC, when he fell on the deck.

He was helped to his feet and continued with the dive, but got into trouble while at a depth of 88m.

Other divers brought him back to the surface but he could not be revived and was pronounced dead on the boat.

Ms Warner claims her husband had life threatening injuries before the dive started and she sought damages on behalf of herself and her son in 2015, claiming her husband's death was the result of SFC's negligence.

The company lodged a defence that the case was time-barred under the Athens Convention, which sets out laws on action for damages relating to the carriage of passengers at sea.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled in favour of the firm, however it was decided on appeal that Vincent's claim should be allowed to proceed.

The Supreme Court has upheld that ruling after dismissing an appeal from SFC.

Judge Lord Hodge wrote: "In agreement with the Inner House, I conclude that Mrs Warner's claim as Vincent's guardian is not time barred by the Athens Convention."

Additional reporting by agencies