The family of a scuba diver from Liverpool who died earlier this year while diving in Liverpool Bay has started a fundraiser to help with legal representation at the inquest into his death.
On 7 May 2025, 65-year-old Thomas Kenny, also known as Tim, was diving the 30m-deep wreck of the lightship Alarm when he suffered a rapid ascent that resulted in his death.
He was diving with a buddy – an experienced diver of more than 25 years – and another club member who was piloting their dive boat when the tragedy occurred.
Although details are limited, witness statements and dive computer data appear to show Kenny made a short descent but surfaced around 5 minutes later.
After signalling that he was okay, he made a second descent but ‘shot to the surface’, where he was found unresponsive and not breathing by the dive boat’s pilot.
A Mayday was issued at 4.34pm – more than 90 minutes after the team had arrived on site – which was responded to by a nearby Royal Navy survey vessel, HMS Magpie.
Kenny was brought on board, and although the crew attempted CPR, he was declared dead just after 6pm by a medic from the Coastguard helicopter rescue team dispatched to the scene.
Returning to diving after a long absence
Kenny was a BSAC-certified dive leader who logged many dives during the 1980s and early 1990s, but he had not dived for nearly 30 years, having stopped in 1995 after the birth of his two children.
Following the death of his wife in 2021, Kenny reconnected with his former club and took his first dive in November 2024.
For reasons that his family are finding difficult to understand, he chose to forgo any kind of refresher and made his first dive for almost three decades on the same 30m-deep wreck on which he would tragically lose his life a few months later.
During the first dive, his weight belt had fallen off, and he would later tell his family that he had been sick in his mask and ‘didn’t feel right’.
When he was found unresponsive at the surface after his second dive in May, it was also apparent he had lost his weight belt.
Unanswered questions
There are many questions to be answered in the inquest that has been ordered into Kenny’s death; questions that his non-diving children feel they are unprepared to ask.
The Coroner’s summary provides information as to the circumstances of his death, but the complete dive computer data – which is still in the hands of the police – has not been forthcoming.
There are questions as to why it took more than an hour to issue a Mayday call after a dive that had lasted, at most, 15 minutes, and why, above all else, Kenny chose not to take a refresher after such a long absence from diving.
The family has been aided pro bono by Lisa Morton, director of Morton’s Solicitors, who is herself a scuba diver, but is launching the fundraiser to secure legal representation at the inquest from a barrister who specialises in scuba diving cases (and who is also a certified dive professional).
Kenny’s daughter, Joanne, stresses that the family is not seeking to apportion blame to any party, nor sue any of those involved for compensation, but to ask meaningful questions both for their own personal closure, and to try and prevent such tragedies from occurring for others.
‘We’re raising funds to have a barrister with diving experience support us in obtaining answers and representing us at the inquest,’ Joanne writes in the GoFundMe campaign introduction.
‘This will help in interpreting the data, asking the right questions, and ensuring that what happened to Dad is adequately understood.
‘This is about understanding what went wrong, learning from it, and making sure that other returning divers, especially those coming back after long breaks, have clearer guidance and better support.
‘Our dad loved diving. He would have been the first to help someone else in trouble. We want to honour him by ensuring lessons are learned from his death and that the sport he loved becomes that bit safer for others.’
Use the widget above to donate to the Kenny family’s fundraiser, or head to the GoFundMe campaign page.
- Thomas Kenny’s family launches fundraiser for inquest into his death - 6 November 2025
- Northern Diver raises the bar with its Odyssey Full Face Mask - 6 November 2025
- BSAC Annual Diving Incident Report 2024 published - 5 November 2025
