Family of man who died on fishing trip criticise police investigation
Peter Cloke, 74, drowned when his boat, Petrel, sank eight miles off Torquay on May 19 2023
The family of a man who died after his boat sank during a fishing trip have criticised the police investigation into the incident, an inquest has heard.
Peter Cloke, 74, drowned when his boat, Petrel, sank eight miles off Torquay on May 19 2023. His body was recovered 12 days later.
At an inquest at Devon Coroner's Court on Tuesday, Mr Cloke's son Richard raised concerns about the police's investigation into the incident.
He said the police had failed to do enough to obtain CCTV footage from the marina from the day before the incident, arguing it could have shown intentional or accidental damage to his father's boat while it was docked.
However, a police officer said it became impossible to retrieve the footage.
The inquest heard that Mr Cloke, who was well known in fishing circles, had previously worked as a teacher and received an OBE for his services to education in 2002.
On the day of the incident, Mr Cloke's boat began to quickly take on water and attempts to bail it out failed.
Mr Cloke made a mayday call, but as Petrel began to sink, the door to a deck compartment rose up, covering the cabin door and trapping the pilot inside.
A friend who was with him attempted to free Mr Cloke but was unable to. The second man survived the incident.
The boat has never been recovered, with a police officer saying it had been too heavy, with the line having snapped when it was attempted.
The coroner heard that the boat had been surveyed in March 2023, with Mr Cloke's son arguing it should not have sunk as quickly as it did.
Richard Cloke said: "I understand that the weather on May 19 was perfect for boating and the sea state was calm.
"I do not understand how Petrel came to take on water so catastrophically after recently being serviced and being at sea the previous day."
Mr Cloke's son questioned Charlotte Craven, an officer from Devon and Cornwall Police, on the failure to secure the marina's CCTV from the day before the incident, saying it will "haunt me forever".
He said: "If overnight on the 18th, a vessel, deliberately or unintentionally had struck (Petrel), that could have caused a small transom crack, the vibration could exacerbate that crack.
"This is why I was adamant that that footage needed to have been secure, reviewed and ideally discounted.
"I would love to be able to sit here and say, 'it was just dad's time' but there's always that doubt."
Ms Craven said officers had attempted to retrieve the footage but had been given CCTV for the wrong day, and due to the system, it became impossible to get what they wanted.
"I'm never going to be able to give you an answer as to how the vessel has come to take on a significant amount of water," she said.
"As for the CCTV, (an inspector) in his letter to you said 'the CCTV inquiry is one that may have helped answer the questions you have as a family rather than the ones the coroner needs to answer at the inquest, which does not include why the person died'."
Asked by the coroner what she believed happened to the boat, she said: "There could have been a potential malfunction out at sea, unfortunately, the sad circumstances have occurred where the boat has taken on a catastrophic amount of water, which has then resorted in Peter being trapped in the wheelhouse and the boat sadly sinking."
Nicholas Lane, the coroner, said the lack of CCTV was "outside the scope" of the inquest and whether the police could have done more was not something he could adjudicate on.
He said: "We do not know why the boat took on water and why, therefore, it sank.
"The police investigation states there are no suspicious circumstances.
"In relation to accidental damage coming in or out of the marina, we simply don't have any evidence of that either way."
He recorded a conclusion of accidental death.