Pontypool diver's death a mystery - inquest (From Free Press Series)

Pontypool diver's death a mystery - inquest

8:20pm Thursday 2nd February 2012 in News

MYSTERY surrounds the death of an experienced Pontypool diver after an inquest heard no conclusive evidence could be found for the cause of the tragedy.

Eric Davie, a 55-year-old computer programmer from Parklands, Penperlenni, Pontypool, was diving in a former quarry in the Forest of Dean on April 24, 2011 when he died.

After his death investigators found that one of his air regulators was set to a lower level than normal and his dive computer was not set up correctly.

But assistant deputy Gloucestershire coroner Katy Skerrett at Gloucester Coroner’s Court said although there was a clear ‘combination of errors in his equipment’ it was not certain that these caused him to go into convulsions.

Fellow divers did their best to help him underwater and then got him to the surface but he could not be revived. Friends diving with him told the inquest he was always meticulous about safety and they checked their own and each other’s equipment before every dive.

Mr Davie started having convulsions during the dive at the National Diving and Activities Centre at Tidenham, near Chepstow.

An expert said Mr Davie’s dive computer had not been set up properly, but one of his diving partners said later that most of the divers in South Wales went to Mr Davie to get their computers set up, and no-one knew more about them.

Consultant pathologist Dr Ian Calder of Frenchay Hospital in Bristol carried out a post-mortem and found that the immediate cause of death was gas and air in the circulation.

Mr Davie had also had bleeding in his lungs due to his uncontrolled ascent in the water.

Summing up, Mrs Skerrett said the real reason for his death would never be known, and recorded a verdict of accidental death.