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Dive Death: Husband 'Should Face Trial'
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...319610,00.html


Updated:11:28, Friday June 20, 2008
An American man whose wife drowned while scuba diving on their honeymoon should face a murder trial, a coroner has ruled.
Tina Watson, at bottom right, on the sea floor

The finding will set in motion proceedings to extradite Daniel Gabriel Watson of Birmingham, Alabama, to Australia.

He could face life in prison if convicted of murder.

Queensland state coroner David Glasgow ruled there was enough evidence to justify charging Watson with the murder of his 26-year-old wife, Christina May Watson, on October 22, 2003.

Mrs Watson, known as Tina, was a novice diver who drowned while on a dive with Watson and others on the Great Barrier Reef near the northeastern city of Townsville.

She died just 11 days after the couple were married.
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Watson's lawyer has denied the allegations, saying he believes police in Australia have been intent on blaming his client for the death.

The inquest heard that a post-mortem found there was no obvious medical cause for Tina Watson's death, and that her dive equipment was not found to be faulty.

Watson - a certified rescue diver - had told police his wife apparently struck trouble and panicked, possibly blacking out during the group dive at a shipwreck.

But he changed details in his story to police several times, including suggesting that she was caught in a strong current, the inquest heard.

Police were also suspicious because he left his wife to raise the alarm, and took an "unusually" long time to reach the surface.

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