Ben Burgess inquest: Yorkshire merchant seaman drowned after night out in Barbados - and coroner cannot rule out foul play as local woman said 'something happened to him'

Benjamin Peter Burgess, 25, known as Ben, was working aboard British-registered oil tanker Lucy PG when his body was found in the water near a jetty in the port of Oistins in April 2019.

Mr Burgess was born in Steeton and grew up in Ilkley, attending Prince Henry’s Grammar School in Otley. He later lived in Eastby, near Skipton, and studied at South Shields Maritime College before joining the Merchant Navy.

The inquest was told that he was working as third engineer in the engine room of the vessel when it docked in Oistins. The tanker had a crew of 16, including British and Polish officers and Guyanese sailors, and Mr Burgess went ashore with the second engineer on the night he died.

The two crewmen ate fishcakes and drank two Corona beers each before the second engineer decided to return to the ship via a local service boat at 9pm. Mr Burgess told him he wanted to remain onshore, but did not say where he was going.

He was last seen by a fisherman ‘stumbling’ alone along the jetty at 4am, and when his body was found the next day after the Lucy PG’s captain had reported him missing, he had a cut to his forehead and was wearing a wristband from a local nightclub. His wallet and money were on his person.

At the inquest, evidence was heard from Mr Burgess’s brother Tom, who visited Barbados a month after the tragedy and was pulled aside by a local woman who owned a bar that she claimed Ben had visited. She told him that ‘something happened’ to Ben and that he ‘didn’t drown’. Tom Burgess said the woman appeared ‘scared’ and said she would speak only to British authorities. She added that Ben did not seem drunk while at her bar, but had smoked cannabis.

Postmortems conducted in Barbados and the UK concluded that Mr Burgess drowned and suffered a head injury, possibly inflicted by his body colliding with the concrete jetty. There were no other injuries or indications he had been assaulted and despite the 4cm cut, his skull was not fractured.

A Royal Barbados Police investigation also concluded that there was no evidence of foul play and that he had been to a popular nightlife district called St Lawrence Gap, though his exact movements ‘could not be accounted for’.

Mr Burgess’s family, who attended the inquest, added that they had checked his mobile phone records and found a call that night to a number which was never traced. They speculated he had been trying to call the service boat to return to his vessel, but there was no firm evidence contact had been made.

Assistant coroner for North Yorkshire Jonathan Leach recorded an open conclusion, adding: “His whereabouts that night were unknown and it is also unknown how he actually ended up in the water.

"My conclusion is open because the evidence does not disclose the means by which death arose. There are two possibilities; either that he slipped and fell, or foul play. It is unclear which applies.”