THE owner of a boat on which two North-East fishermen died of carbon monoxide poisoning has been jailed for 15 months.

Mark Arries, 26, of Blyth, Northumberland and Edward Ide, 21, Amble, Northumberland, were found dead on the scallop fishing vessel Eshcol as it was moored in Whitby harbour, in January 2014.

The pair were using a gas cooker to warm the boat overnight as they slept.

Boat owner Timothy Bowman-Davies admitted failing to ensure the ship was operated safely and that work equipment was maintained efficiently was aware that the crew were using the cooker as a heating source.

The court heard Bowman-Davies’s son Jake, who was 15 at the time, was working on another boat and found the bodies of his colleagues.

But the 44-year-old from Haverford West, Pembrokeshire, told Leeds Crown

Court he did not know the men were using the cooker as a heater.

On Wednesday, Judge Tom Bayliss QC rejected this basis of plea and jailed

the defendant for 15 months.

He said: “Two men have died. Those who employ others and whose actions create a risk of harm must take the consequences when harm results, such as here.”

The judge said: “He knew the cooker was being used to heat the vessel. A simple risk assessment would have revealed the danger.”

He also said there appears to have been a “general ignorance within the industry” about the dangers of carbon monoxide.

In victim personal statements read to the court, Mr Arries and Mr Ide were both described by their families as doting young fathers who had fishing in their blood.

Mr Arries’s fiancee, Kim Grieve, said he was a “devoted dad” to his son, who is now eight, and surviving twin daughter, adding: “I’m heartbroken my soul mate has gone.” His mother, Tracey Arries, said in her statement that she worried every day about her son out at sea only to see him die while tied up in port.

Mr Ide’s mother, Gail Oliver, said her “world fell apart” with the death of her son and his fiancee, Sarah-Louise Tait said he was loving father to their son, now three.