Carlisle fisherman submitted false paperwork for his Maryport boat

John Watson, 55, whose career as a trawler skipper floundered when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, sold his boat Solway Prospector but then lied in official paper, claiming that the vessel was berthed in Maryport Harbour.

The boat in question was in fact an entirely different one, The Mayfly, and this raised the potential for there to be unidentified safety issues had the boat ever put to sea, Carlisle Crown Court was told.

The defendant, of Kingstown Road, Carlisle, was given hefty fines after he pleaded guilty to two offences: recklessly making a false statement to the shipping registrar, claiming that the boat he owned was the Solway Prospector; and removing the identification markings on the boat he owned, The Mayfly.

Scott Joynt, prosecuting, said that the defendant’s MS meant that by the end of 2020 he considered that he would not be able to go to sea and so he sold his boat The Solway Prospector for £10,000.

But by the middle of the following year he became worried about his finances and so he decided to buy an entirely different boat, The Mayfly.

“That was where things started to go wrong,” said the barrister.

On June 15, the defendant submitted paperwork in which he claimed that the new boat was in fact The Solway Prospector, the boat he had sold five months previously. Yet this boat, The Mayfly, was not licenced.

An inspection later confirmed that the original markings that identified the boat as The Mayfly had been painted over.

“It was absolutely clear that the Mayfly was not the Solway Prospector,” continued the barrister.

“But efforts were made to disguise that fact; it was also [done] to mislead the statutory regulator.”

Mr Joynt noted that Watson had said he always sailed alone but the barrister said that had he gone back to sea his illness meant he would need a crew.

When false, such registration – designed to ensure the seaworthiness of such boats – had the potential to put others at risk, said the barrister.

Recorder Julian Shaw said he viewed the offence as the act of a ‘desperate man’ who wanted to maintain his lifestyle and the job he had done throughout his life.

Jamie Adams, defending, said the case was not about safety of the vessel at all, pointing out that The Mayfly would have needed an safety inspection before putting to sea. The defendant’s offences were born out of ‘sheer desperation,’ he said.

The barrister spoke of Watson’s high standing in the local community, including as a volunteer with Maryport Lifeboat.

Recorder Shaw said the offences were ‘remarkably stupid’ and must have been committed with the notion that Watson could cling to his former career as a professional fisherman. Accurate and honest boat registration aimed to ensure that the boats going to see were seaworthy.

“Fishing is one of the truly dangerous occupations that we still have,” said the judge, pointing out that Watson’s actions potentially placed at risk lifeboat volunteers had they ever been needed for the vessel.

Watson was fined £3,000 for the false statement offence, and £500 for erasing the identification markings on The Mayfly. The judge set a default prison term of three months should the fines not be paid.