My trial was rigged, says rafting tragedy boss

A British rafting boss convicted over the deaths of four tourists who were sucked into a whirlpool of white water in Austria says he did not receive a fair trial.

Trevor Hamer said the tragedy was a genuine accident but had been "used" in a political vendetta by powerful Austrian nationalists.

He claims they waged an 11-year battle against the outdoor adventure centre he set up with his British wife, Christine.

Earlier this month, father-of-three Mr Hamer was convicted of manslaughter through negligence over the incident in June 1999 in which a British man and three Irish holidaymakers drowned when their rubber raft plunged into an icy weir.

He received a 15-month suspended prison sentence from the Salzburg court.

Mr Hamer said the deaths still haunted him, but claimed the charges against him were trumped up and his trial was "arranged".

He blames a campaign by the powerful hunting and fishing lobby, which complains that rafters spoil the picturesque River Salzach, and influential nationalists who want him out of business and out of the country.

Fair Trials Abroad, which has examined the court documents, described the convictions of Mr Hamer and the raft's 31-year-old guide, Gottfried Eder, as "very suspicious".

And a diplomatic source said: "Our general feeling is that he has got a case."

Mr Hamer, whose rafting centre is in the riverside village of Taxenbach, about 50 miles south of Salzburg, said: "I was marked down as a foreign troublemaker years ago because I was trying to improve safety on the river and the fishermen didn't like it. I made the mistake of publicly attacking a leading politician on the radio and they have been gunning for me ever since."

Mr Hamer, 46, originally from Leeds, said he and his young family suffered anonymous death threats, had the brakes cut on their minibus and its windows smashed in as part of the campaign to drive them out.

Then came the accident on the weir - which killed Mark Richardson, 33, from Bedford, Irishmen Alan Daly, 35, and John McGeough, 28, and his girlfriend Emma Duke, 28, from Dublin - and he believes his enemies seized on it as ammunition.

Three other young adventurers survived the River Salzach tragedy, along with the guide.