The captain of the dredger involved in the 1989 Marchioness disaster has been fined after he refused a breathalyser test – despite suspicions he had been drinking on the job.
Douglas Henderson, of Redcar, North Yorkshire, was the man in charge of the dredger Bowbelle on August 20, 1989, when his vessel collided with the pleasure boat Marchioness on the River Thames shortly before 2am.
In total, 51 died out of the the 132 passengers on board died, making it one of Britain’s worst civilian maritime disasters in modern times.
Mr Henderson was arrested onboard the MV Velox on July 21, 2024, after a tip-off from a customs officer who was carrying out a routine check on the boat and suspected Mr Henderson had been drinking alcohol.
He was fined £281 on September 11 at Hull magistrates after he was found guilty of failing to provide a specimen at a police station, The Mirror reported.
Juries twice failed to reach a verdict on charges of failing to keep a proper lookout in relation to his role in the Marchioness – despite him having drunk six pints of lager three hours before the crash.
And the mother of one of the Marchioness victims has spoken of her ‘disgust’ at Mr Henderson’s recent conviction.
Judy Wellington, of Greenford, Middlesex, lost her son Simon Senior, 20, in the horrifying boat crash.
Douglas Henderson, the captain of the dredger Bowbelle which collided with the pleasure boat Marchioness in 1989, pictured here in 2000
Elsa Garcia (left) was one of the 51 people who lost their lives when the Marchioness sank. Shaun Lockwood-Croft (right), was also killed
Pictured are survivors of the disaster. Fewer than two-thirds of those on board that night survived the accident
Informed by reporters of Henderson’s recent conviction, she said: ‘I am horrified, disgusted. I am so hurt and upset by this. I lost my first son. He was just starting out on life. It was snatched from him.’
When questioned about the failure to take a breathalyser test Mr Henderson said reporters ‘had their facts wrong’.
He reportedly added: ‘I have nothing further to say. Can we not be grown up about this?’
It emerged later after the disaster that nearly half of the Marchioness victims had their hands secretly amputated in a chaotic and botched identification process.
