Photo:PALAMEDES PREteson’s Bayliner was
moored on Windermere on
the weekend in questionRobert Braithwaite
with the new robotNEWSJANUARY 2016 11Sunseeker founder Robert Braithwaite CBE has donated £3.5m to Poole
Hospital after receiving bowel cancer treatment there earlier this year.
The money has been used to buy a new Da Vinci robot, the first of its kind in
the UK, which will carry out keyhole surgery procedures on patients with rectal,
gynaecological, head and neck cancer. It will also be used to train surgeons from
all across Dorset, where Sunseeker is based.
The Sunseeker founder and former
CEO said of the new machine: “I
understand that its versatility will be
able to help many and make Poole
Hospital a centre of excellence.”
Developed in California by Intuitive
Surgical, the Da Vinci robot is part of a
cutting-edge field of medicine known
as robotic oncology.TOPEVENTS
Our pick of the big boat shows for
December is the SALON
NAUTIQUE DE PARIS (December
5-13, pictured below), which will
feature exhibitions from the likes of
Jeanneau, Sealine and Bénéteau.
Meanwhile, back in Blighty plenty of
marinas are getting into the
Christmas spirit, with CAROLS ON
THE QUAY at Portishead Quays
Marina on December 16, before
Santa makes a special visit to
Lymington for CHRISTMAS ON
THE QUAY on December 20, with
late-night shopping for the adults
and festive games for the kids.TOPDEALS
Discount tickets to the London Boat
Show are being made available to
RYA members once again. Advance
tickets are available for £12 per
adult for any day, including press
preview day and both weekends,
making for a
maximum
saving of £8.
PREMIER
MARINAS is
offering the first
six weeks free
when you book
12 weeks of secure storage at its
Swanwick facility. Prices start at £
per week and the offer covers
bookings made before December 18Jury fi nds Bayliner owner Matthew Eteson guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence
A qualified gas fitter who modified his
boat’s generator has been found guilty
of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Matthew Eteson, 42 from Hale,
Cheshire, appeared in Preston Crown
Court as part of the two-and-a-half
week trial into the deaths of Kelly
Webster and Lauren Thornton, which
were caused by accidental carbon
monoxide poisoning.
The defendant declined to give
evidence due to his mental condition,
but the court heard evidence from his
police interview. Eteson described the
moment he realised his boat was filling
with the poisonous gas: “I just knew
there was something not right with
me. I couldn’t properly move my
fingers – I remember getting up and
thinking ‘what’s wrong with me?’”WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
DAKAR: Hardy Brit Ben Hooper will attempt to swim across the Atlantic
this December. The four-month epic will include 12 hours a day in the water.Sunseeker turns lifesaver
Firm’s founder donates £3.5m to local hospital
“I couldn’t properly move my fi ngers – I remember
getting up and thinking ‘what’s wrong with me?’”Boat owner found guilty
After the jury returned their
unanimous verdict on October 26, the
court was adjourned until November
13, when Mr Eteson was handed a
two-year suspended prison sentence.
The boat owner was holidaying in
the Lake District with his partner Kelly,
36, and her 10-year-old daughter
Lauren over the Easter Bank holiday
weekend in April 2013. The group
returned to their Bayliner 285
(pictured above) following a fish and
chip lunch to take a nap and were
poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes
after Eteson’s modified generatorfailed. The court heard that he had
soldered an ‘elbow joint’ to fit a
silencer to the generator’s copper
exhaust pipe, but this failed when the
system heated up.
Gas permeated the boat’s bulkhead
and filled the aft cabin where Lauren
and Kelly were sleeping, and the
emergency services were unable to
resuscitate them. Matthew was able to
escape as he was sleeping in the
forecabin. The court also heard how
the boat was moored on a swinging
mooring so was unable to power the
heating from the mains.