US scuba shop owner David Swain found guilty of 'near perfect murder' during holiday in the British Virgin Islands
A US scuba shop owner and former town councillor was convicted yesterday of drowning his wife during a diving trip 10 years ago in the British Virgin Islands.
David Swain was found guilty of what prosecutors called "a near perfect murder", after jurors on the island of Tortola heard evidence that he swam up behind his wife, Shelley Tyre, tore off her scuba mask, shut off her air and held her until she drowned.
Swain maintained that Tyre drowned accidentally. The jurors convicted him unanimously on expert testimony and circumstantial evidence.
No DNA evidence or eyewitness testimony tied him to the death, and defence lawyers argued that a botched autopsy report could not rule out a heart attack or other natural causes. Swain now faces life in a Caribbean prison.
"My father is an innocent man," said his son, Jeremy Swain.
Tyre's father, Richard, who with her mother came to suspect Swain's role in their daughter's death when he was unable satisfactorily to explain to them how she died, addressed the court after the verdict.
"We're old, we're in our 80s, and when Shelley was killed our life pretty much ended," he said, according to the Associated Press.
In March 1999, Swain and Tyre, both experienced divers, took a holiday on Tortola with another couple. The two families chartered a yacht and spent an idyllic week diving off the coast of the lush, mountainous island. Tyre, a 46-year-old teacher, was Swain's second wife; they had been married for about five years.
On the last day of the voyage, Swain and Tyre slipped into the water over two tugboat wrecks. Swain resurfaced alone several minutes later. The couple's travelling companion dived under and spotted Tyre's yellow fin embedded in the sand about 25 metres below the surface. He found Tyre's body a few minutes later, facing up, her eyes open and her scuba mask missing.
Tortola authorities ruled the death an accident and released the body to Swain, who returned to the state of Rhode Island, in the US. In 2002, Tyre's family filed a civil suit accusing him of killing her. The trial foreshadowed much of the criminal case Tortola prosecutors built against him. After deliberating for less than three hours, a jury found that Swain intentionally killed Tyre and awarded her family nearly $5m (£3.1m).
Authorities in Tortola reopened the criminal investigation and charged Swain with murder. He was arrested and extradited to the island about two years ago.
Swain is expected to be sentenced next Wednesday. He faces life in prison.