Wife must relive her jet-ski tragedy ordeal

Jacqui Hoyland has searched tirelessly for her husband Jeremy, 41, who disappeared on October 24, 2008 as he and four friends were checking the route of a jet ski race.

Mr Hoyland, a former British jet ski champion, had been in the Indonesian resort of Bali as an official for the Asian Beach Games, which in 2008 included jet ski racing for the first time.

He vanished after he dropped back to help a colleague who appeared to be in difficulty. Some time later four members of the party returned safely but Mr Hoyland was nowhere to be seen.

An initial search by the Indonesian authorities failed to find any evidence of Mr Hoyland, who had tried to use his mobile phone to call for help and direct rescuers to where he was drifting.

Several other searches took place, and Mrs Hoyland, a project

management consultant, travelled to Indonesia to help organise an effort which included the country's navy and air force. The 44-year-old even battled with the Indonesian authorities to get access to mobile phone records to show where her husband made his last call, but all efforts to locate him alive failed.

An investigation into Mr Hoyland's disappearance was closed in March this year, and Mrs Hoyland was told she might have to wait years for a death certificate to be issued in Bali.

An international death certificate has since been issued, but the mother of two is now facing a new fight in the British courts to have her husband's death officially registered here.

Mrs Hoyland, of Penistone, near Barnsley, said: "We thought when the international death certificate was granted that our insurers and mortgage company would recognise that.

"But I have now been told that it is not good enough, and that I have to go to court in Britain to obtain a 'presumption of death' certificate, which will be recognised by them.

"That will involve persuading a judge that I have a case, and then having to stand in front of them and relive everything we have gone through so they can make a decision over the death.

"At the moment I am having to find the money to pay solicitors and accountants to try and organise the case and our finances and it is a real strain on top of everything else.

"It is like a conveyor belt. Every time you think you have won one battle, something else happens which sends you back to the beginning again and I am having to work really hard just to pay the bills."

Mrs Hoyland said that even though her husband had been missing for more than a year, she was still receiving tax demands and was unable to move her mortgage onto a cheaper deal.

The couple's 14-year-old daughter Ellena has been off school for six months after becoming ill because of her father's disappearance, and is now being treated by a psychologist.

Mrs Hoyland said: "I feel like I am being treated in the same way as someone who is trying to pull off a scam. But this is not a scam. I would give my right arm to find him.

"Its frightening to think that this could happen to a family, and I am just grateful that my job means I have the skills to deal with what has been thrown at me. Other people would struggle I'm sure.

"But now there is nowhere else to go, we have involved all the Indonesian authorities, the British Navy, the Australian Navy and have been in touch with professionals all over the world.

"We are not going to find anything now, and it is awful to think that I am going to have to go to court to get any help from anyone. I have run out of energy and I just want it all to stop."

Legislation dealing with presumption of death is extremely complicated and experts from charity Missing People are currently helping several British families in the same position as Mrs Hoyland.

In Scotland, the procedure is much simpler, and the charity is currently in discussions with the Department of Justice to try and streamline the process for people whose lived ones have vanished.

A spokesman said: "The present legal position rests on a mixture of common law and a number of different statutory provisions.

"Missing People currently has 346 UK cases on its database which have been open for seven or more years."