Bereaved partner to seek answers at Fatal Accident Inquiry into death of Highland man at Mowi fish farm
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The partner of a fish farm worker who died while at work is hoping to get some answers more than three years after his death.
Clive Hendry (58) drowned after being crushed between two boats as he tried to move from a moving work boat to a salmon feed barge at Mowi Scotland's Ardintoul fish farm on Loch Alsh.
His partner, Catriona Lockhart, now hopes to discover exactly what happened on the fateful day in February 2020 following the announcement that a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) will be held.
"I am relieved there is finally to be an FAI," said Ms Lockhart who has waged a long campaign for an inquiry to be held.
"I will be dreading it but for my grieving process, I need to know how Clive died. I still don't know."
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The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has lodged a First Notice to begin the court process for the FAI with a preliminary hearing is set for October 27 at Inverness Sheriff Court.
It follows the prosecution and conviction of Fife-based Mowi Scotland in May 2023 for breaches of health and safety legislation.
The company was fined £860,000 after it admitted health and safety failings which could have prevented his death.
Ms Lockhart, of Dornie, said she was shocked during the court case to discover new detail surrounding his death.
"I still don't know after three-and-a-half years what happened to Clive on that day," she said.
"I need to know to stop it happening again.
"I don't want this to happen to anyone else."
She understands that although the preliminary hearing will be held later this month, it could be some time before the FAI goes ahead.
The purpose of an FAI includes determining the cause of death, the circumstances in which the deaths occurred, and to establish what, if any, reasonable precautions could have been taken, and could be implemented in the future, to minimise the risk of future deaths in similar circumstances.
Ms Lockhart felt it should not take such a long time for an inquiry to take place and that she will have to relive everything again.
"You cannot get over that grieving process," she said. "It is horrendous to think that here we go again."
But despite the grief of losing her partner of 28 years and the practical impact which has left her running a croft on her own, she has remained relentless in her mission to get answers.
She spoke movingly at a ceremony in Inverness last year to mark International Workers' Memorial Day when she vowed to remember the dead and fight like hell for the living.
"Out of all of this, hopefully I can help make the fish farm a safer place," she said.
