The owner of the Solway Harvester was accused in court yesterday of being "hugely insensitive" towards the relatives of the seven crewmen who perished aboard the fishing boat.

The accusation related to his decision to dredge the area where the wreck lay off the Isle of Man before the bodies had been recovered.

Richard Gidney, 43, was forced to attend the special hearing at Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court yesterday to give evidence after refusing to appear at the reopened inquest on the Isle of Man into the deaths of the seven men in 2000.

Skipper Craig Mills, 29, and crew members Robin Mills, 33, David Mills, 17, Martin Milligan, 26, John Murphy, 22, David Lyons, 18, and Wesley Jolly, 17, lost their lives.

A coroner of inquests inquiry was opened on the Isle of Man in 2006 but was postponed when Mr Gidney refused to attend voluntarily.

However, the Court of Session in Edinburgh granted a petition to Michael Moyle, the Isle of Man coroner, ordering Mr Gidney's examination as a witness and failure to attend yesterday would have resulted in his arrest.

Questioned by Andrew Smith, QC, acting on behalf of the coroner, Mr Gidney admitted being party to a plan to have a boat called the Solway Ranger travel to the area where the Harvester went down, some days after it sank. He said there were rumours of submarine involvement in the sinking.

Mr Smith suggested the boat could have brought up one of the bodies of the young men when it was dredging.

"I certainly didn't think that," said Mr Gidney.

The QC suggested the move was "hugely insensitive".

Mr Gidney said he was only trying to help the families and added: "I don't think it was insensitive."

He said he believed the Marine Accident Investigation Branch had not told him the truth about damage to the Solway Harvester's hull and he was concerned about rumours that it had been hit by a submarine.

"The relatives would have wanted to know if this was the case," he added. "I was in a pretty emotional state. It was a horrible situation to be in when I believed this had happened and the investigators were lying to me."

He denied he was trying to deflect attention away from the maintenance of the Solway Harvester by suggesting a submarine was a factor in the sinking. He now accepted there was not a scrap of evidence that a submarine was involved.

About 20 relatives of the seven crewmen, all from the Isle of Whithorn area, listened to the evidence.

They heard that the Solway Harvester twice had flooding problems in the three years before she sank in high seas off the Isle of Man on January 11, 2002.

Three years later Mr Gidney faced trial for manslaughter in connection with the sinking but he was acquitted after the judge found there was no case to answer.

Sheriff Principal Brian Lockhart and Mr Moyle, who was present yesterday, told Mr Gidney that no further criminal proceedings would be instigated against him in connection with the Solway Harvester.

Mr Gidney told the hearing he had given up the fishing industry last year and was now employed in engineering manufacturing.

Asked why he had not attended the inquest on the Isle of Man, he said he had been advised by his lawyers that his attendance would prejudice his case against an insurance company which was now resolved.

Mr Smith asked: "Don't you understand that the families wanted to hear what you have to say about how their loved ones came to die? What are you sacred of?"

Mr Gidney replied: "I'm not scared of anything."

The hearing continues.