Two men found dead on boat in York after night out with friends, inquest hears

Ronald Holmes, 60, from Glasshoughton, Castleford, and Stephen Jewitt, 63, from Kellington, Goole, were found unresponsive by police at around 8pm on December 4 in 2019 after they had been out drinking with friends the previous day.

The officers had been called to the vessel, which was moored in Museum Gardens quay on the River Ouse, after the men’s family became concerned when they did not return home.

An inquest held in Northallerton today, heard that Mr Holmes, who built and owned the boat, and Mr Jewitt were both pronounced dead at 9.15pm and then identified by their wives in hospital.

A post mortem examination found the retired power station engineers, who had been friends for more than 20 years, died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) launched an investigation and found the toxic gas had leaked into the cabin from the boat’s diesel-fuelled heater exhaust and there was no carbon monoxide alarm on board.

The inquest heard the boat, called Diversion, had been built to a high standard, but the leak had occurred because the connection between the exhaust pipe system and the exhaust silencer, which was not approved for marine use, was not gas tight.

Tests conducted by the MAIB found that dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide were detected in the cabin of the boat for more than 16 hours after the heater was shut down.

Raymond Howe, a Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) inspector, said that when the vessel passed an inspection in February 2019 “there was nothing on the boat that worried me”, but he advised Mr Holmes to install a carbon monoxide alarm.

“It was blatantly obvious that it was a very good idea, so I used to advise customers to do it,” he said.

However, the BSS did not make it a requirement for owners to install a working carbon monoxide alarm on board their vessels until two months later.

Mr Howe also told the inquest that the BSS rules did not allow him to take apart equipment such as the cabin heater or check it while it was running, so he would not have been able to detect the leak during the examination.

Elaine Holmes, who was married to Mr Holmes for almost 30 years, said they had enjoyed “many happy nights and days out” on the boat.

“He was a very clever man, he did all the maintenance on the boat himself and he was very technically minded,” she said.

Christopher Hunter, who was friends with the men, said he met up with them and a group of other ex-colleagues for a few drinks in York, the day before they were found dead.

He told the inquest Mr Holmes had spent 11 years “building the boat from scratch” and they sailed from Naburn into York on December 3, before they moored in the city centre at around 2pm.

He decided not to sleep on the vessel that night because his father was ill and when he left the group at a pub “everyone was in good humour, there were no issues or concerns”.

Detective constable DanielMarsden, from North Yorkshire Police, said there were “no indications of anything suspicious or untoward” and the two men “were just out with friends enjoying a drink”.

He added: “Throughout my investigation there has never been any indication or suspicion that there was any third party involvement in their deaths.

“There were no signs of a struggle on the boat and all of their property and personal belongings were still with the two males.”

Jonathan Heath, senior coroner for North Yorkshire, ruled the deaths were accidental.