Snorkeller died as boat 'veered into safe area'

Six years on from the death of 23-year-old Joanna Stillwell, Coroner David Hinchliff said both he and her family had been left with so many unanswered questions despite repeated requests for information.

During an inquest yesterday, he spoke of his frustration that many of the facts had not been forthcoming from the Malaysian authorities.

Mr Hinchliff said the details he had been given were extremely sketchy, but on the evidence provided he believed Miss Stillwell had been snorkelling in a stretch of the sea to which she had been directed to see turtles and the boat had veered into a restricted area.

Recording a narrative verdict, Mr Hinchliff said: "Joanna was at the location snorkelling which was an authorised activity for her to do. The available evidence suggests that a boat entered that part of the water which would have been prohibited to boats, colliding with her."

Speaking after the verdict, Miss Stillwell's father, John Stillwell, a geography professor at Leeds University, said: "Six years is a long period of time and to disclose virtually no information is extremely frustrating."

He added: "Nothing will bring her back."

However, he said he was keen that other families should have access to better information and believed problems had been caused because of a difference in cultures.

During the hearing, Mr Stillwell urged Mr Hinchliff to write to the Foreign Office to put pressure on the Malaysian authorities to ensure they liaised better with families in future.

Mr Hinchliff said he would continue to press the Foreign Office for information.

The hearing was told that at the time of the accident, Press reports suggested Miss Stillwell, of Guiseley, Leeds, was snorkelling in the wrong place, but Mr Hinchliff said he believed it was likely it was the boat that was in the wrong area.

Earlier this year, it was revealed the driver of the speedboat, local man Baharin bin Kamaruzaman, had been convicted of negligence.

He was fined the equivalent of 1,300 and it is thought he was told he must serve six months in prison if he failed to pay – although the information supplied is scant.

At the time, Mr Stillwell was critical of the sentence saying: "Is this really what a life is worth in that part of the world?"

The inquest, held in Leeds yesterday, was told that the area of sea where Miss Stillwell was killed off the island of Redang in July 2004 was sectioned off shortly after the accident, indicating it was a place to snorkel.

Mr Hinchliff said following the successful prosecution and the fact that there was now demarcation which allows people to snorkel in the area where Miss Stillwell was struck by the boat, there appeared to be constructive evidence that she was "in the right place at the right time".

The former Guiseley School pupil, who was Sheffield University graduate, had been backpacking for 14 months in the Far East and Australia when she met up with her family for a stay in Malaysia.

She was struck by Kamaruzaman's speedboat while she was snorkelling with her brother Nicholas, then 18.

Mr Stillwell and his wife, Janet, were at their hotel when they were told their daughter had been in an accident.

Mrs Stillwell said after the accident they had been taken off the island in the same boat as their daughter and saw her body carried off the craft.

The hearing was told that Miss Stillwell died as a result of injuries sustained in the collision with the speedboat.