A FATHER is facing trial over the deaths of his girlfriend and friend while on a diving holiday in Malta.

Stephen Martin has been charged with involuntary homicide by Maltese authorities after Larissa Hooley and Nigel Haines died after getting into difficulty while diving in June 2014.

The 55-year-old, from Rustington, claims he is innocent and is fighting an order that he be extradited to the European island to face the charge which carries a maximum ten-year prison sentence.

A Brighton coroner concluded the deaths on June 17 last year were the result of diving accidents after inquests which heard from witnesses and medical experts.

However, the Maltese authorities accuse Mr Martin of being “negligent in his obligations”. They say he “failed to keep a close watch” of his scuba diving buddy and long-term partner Ms Hooley and should have halted the dive off Gozo, part of the Maltese archipelago, because of “prevailing weather conditions”.

Father-of-three Mr Martin rejects the claims A Westminster judge on July 8 approved his extradition to Malta, in line with a treaty between the two countries, but Mr Martin has lodged an appeal with the High Court.

Mr Martin was a member of the Brighton branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club at the time of the incident, as were other divers in the group.

He has more than 15 years’ diving experience while Ms Hooley, from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, had learned more recently in Thailand.

The Argus: Stephen Martin (front) diving with other members of the group during the trip to Malta in June 2014

Mr Haines, from Hove, knew the pair through the diving club.

Mr Martin said he was interviewed by Maltese authorities after the incident but then heard nothing from them until he was arrested on July 7 by Sussex Police officers, acting on the European Arrest Warrant.

No representative of the Maltese authorities was able to comment at the time of publication.