A man has been charged over the death of a sailor from Cornwall. Paul Goslin grew up in the south east of the Duchy and learnt to sail off the coast. He was one of four people who drowned when their yacht, the Cheeki Rafiki, capsized in the middle of the Atlantic.
Now a man has been accused of manslaughter by gross negligence after a two year investigation into the tragedy. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency was brought in to probe what happened around a thousand miles off Cape Cod in Massachusetts back in 2014. Rescue teams from the US navy arrived on the scene to find the upturned 40 foot yacht with no signs of life and its lift raft still stored on board.Ian Harris, from the Crown Prosecution Service Wessex, said: "We have authorised the charging of Douglas Innes with four counts of gross negligence manslaughter and Douglas Innes and Stormforce Coaching Limited with one charge contrary to section 100 Merchant Shipping Act 1995. "These charges relate to the deaths of Andrew Bridge, James Male, Stephen Warren and Paul Goslin in the North Atlantic in May 2014, following the loss of the keel on their yacht, the Cheeki Rafiki.
"The decision to charge was taken in accordance with the Code of Crown Prosecutors." Douglas Innes and a representative of Stormforce Coaching Limited will appear at Southampton Magistrates court on the 3rd November.
