Inquest opens into death of scuba diver who went missing in 2024

File photo of an RNLI rescue boat and helicopter (Photo: Shutterstock)

An inquest has opened into the death of an experienced scuba diver who disappeared during a dive off Dorset, UK, in May 2024.

Stephen Michael Clowes, 57, from Sheffield, was reported missing after failing to surface from a dive on the wreck of Aracan, a 19th-century sailing vessel around 13 nautical miles from Portland Bill, on the south coast of England, on 25 May 2024.

Clowes was reportedly making his ascent from the wreck, which lies at a depth of 56 metres, and had reached his 15m safety stop and deployed a delayed surface marker buoy (DSMB) when he suddenly disappeared.

A major search operation was launched involving Weymouth and Swanage RNLI lifeboats, two Coastguard helicopters, a fixed-wing aircraft and the Wyke Coastguard Rescue Team, but was called off at around 1.30am the next morning after failing to locate the missing diver.

At a short hearing at Exeter Coroner’s Court, Area Coroner Nicholas Lane was told that human remains recovered from the sea off Brixham on 9 October 2025, some 16 months later, had since been formally identified as Clowes.

Brixham is approximately 50 miles across Lyme Bay from the area where Clowes originally went missing.

Stephen Clowes (Photo: Vivien Clowes/GoFundMe)

The court heard that Clowes was an electrical engineer and held PADI Master Instructor and TDI Instructor ratings with at least 25 years’ experience.

Lane told the hearing that the cause of death was currently unascertained, but his date of death had been recorded as 9 October 2025, the day his remains were recovered.

In the years since his disappearance, Clowes wife, Vivien, said that on top of the grief of losing her husband and not knowing if or when he might be found, she had also struggled to get a presumption of death certificate from the High Court, without which she may have lost their family home.

Mrs Clowes has also been campaigning to raise funds to support more advanced search tools to help the RNLI locate people missing at sea.

The fundraiser, which has raised £284 of its £1,000 target, is still open and can be found at its GoFundMe link.

The inquest has been adjourned, and a full hearing will take place at a later date.