CARDENDEN man Guthrie Melville was yesterday (Tuesday) found guilty of safety failings which led to death of a diver who had gone from his boat into Largo Bay in 2011.

A jury at Stirling Sheriff Court took two hours to find Melville, of Kirkburn Drive, guilty on a majority verdict of a series of failures of diving at work and Health and Safety regulations 'in consequence of which' James Irvine failed to surface and drowned on 24th March 2011 while diving in Largo Bay.

Jurors at Stirling Sheriff Court were told on Monday that prosecutor Louise Beattie was no longer insisting on the fourth charge on a lengthy indictment against Melville, which had alleged, that he told other divers on the Solstice that “if other vessels approached during said diving projects you would drop said electrical equipment into the waters of Forth Estaury and pretend to the crews of said other vessels that your vessel had been chartered for diving by said divers.” The jury was also told that allegations that Melville had failed to properly maintain a compressor on the boat, used for diving air, were also being dropped.

Other charges were reworded to allege that Melville was the owner of the Solstice, rather than the master at the time.

Melville, of Kirkburn Drive, Cardenden, was still accused of a series of safety failings which led to Mr Irvine’s death.

It was alleged that he had responsibility for the fatal diving project, arranged and directed the dive, and failed to take measures to comply with diving regulations. It is alleged he failed to provide any equipment which would have assisted in getting Mr Irvine from the water and back on board the Solstice in the event of an emergency, or any equipment with which to monitor him while he was underwater.

Among other allegations, it is claimed he failed to ensure a standby diver was available or that there were sufficient suitably-qualified people present to manage the dive and deal with an emergency.

Sheriff William Gilchrist deferred sentence on Melville for background reports.