Anger as Bowbelle captain keeps licence

Families of the Marchioness victims reacted with fury today as the skipper of the Bowbelle dredger involved in the disaster was allowed to retain his licence.

In a highly controversial ruling, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency decided that Captain Douglas Henderson is fit to hold a British master's certificate.

Eileen Dallaglio, whose daughter Francesca died in the 1989 Thames tragedy, described the decision as "disgraceful". She said: "He has been found to be causative of the incident. We want justice for 51 of our children and we will go to the European Courts if we have to."

Captain Henderson was strongly criticised in the Marchioness public inquiry report for failing to set a proper lookout on the night of the accident.

Although the alcohol from the six pints of lager he had drunk on the afternoon of the accident would have cleared his bloodstream, the inquiry report "strongly deprecated" his conduct. He is believed to have been recently serving as a mate on a non-British registered vessel.

Last March, inquiry chairman Lord Justice Clarke held back from recommending disciplinary action against Captain Henderson because of the time that had elapsed and on human rights grounds.

But Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said he was referring the entire Clarke report for consideration by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Today the Crown Prosecution Service said the matter was still under consideration.

Juries twice failed to reach a verdict on a charge that Captain Henderson failed to keep a proper lookout and he was acquitted.

The MCA said Mr Henderson had met the two set criteria of being medically fit and his sea service record being in order in the past five years. Allegations that he had recently been dismissed by a European shipping company for drinking were unproven, it said.