New book reveals six key questions about Emiliano Sala’s death that still need answering
EMILIANO SALA was the £15million ace flying in from France to keep Cardiff City in the Premier League.
But instead of a premium seat on an executive jet, he was put on a rickety light aircraft he feared would break up in mid-air.
And its pilot David Ibbotson was not qualified to carry paying passengers, having dropped out of training for commercial flights.
The journey ended in tragedy soon after Sala messaged his dad from the plane, saying he feared they wouldn’t make it across the Channel.
He wrote: “It looks like it’s going to fall apart . . . Dad, I’m really scared.”
Minutes later, the plane — hired by father-and-son footie agents Willie and Mark McKay — crashed into the sea.
Almost a year on from the tragedy last January 21, I reveal in new book The Killing Of Emiliano Sala that Cardiff City has hired top lawyer Eric Dupond-Moretti to explore criminal and civil litigation for manslaughter against Nantes, the club selling the striker, 28.
A decision is expected this month on whether the unprecedented action can go ahead. A source close to the case says it will be like “throwing a grenade into the mix” if so.
My book sheds light on how Cardiff’s record transfer could end up bankrupting the club — now a rung down from the Premier League — without help from owner Vincent Tan.
‘CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE’
Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman reveals the moral and financial reasons behind the club’s refusal to pay Nantes the huge fee for the player.
I write of the legal action: “It is clearly aimed in reverting to French law to examine whether criminal negligence has taken place.
“It is clear from Cardiff’s submissions to Fifa they hold Nantes responsible, as the agent Willie McKay — who organised the plane journey — was effectively representing the French club.
“The reason for taking their case to the French courts is the greater likelihood of success.”
Sala was pictured at Cardiff’s stadium on January 19 after signing for the club, then flew back to Nantes on the plane in which he later died.
On January 21, that plane took off from Nantes at 7.15pm but disappeared around 8.30pm off Alderney in the Channel Islands.
On January 25, the search for the plane was called off but a crowdfunding campaign led to a private search and the wreckage was found on the seabed on February 3.
Video footage showed Sala’s body in the wreckage but there was no sign of Ibbotson.
Sala’s body was brought to Portland, Dorset, where police opened an investigation.
On June 19 they arrested a 64-year-old Yorkshire man on suspicion of manslaughter while considering “whether there is any evidence of any suspected criminality”.
Although police would not confirm his identity, reports suggested that man was David Henderson, from York — an experienced pilot who was originally lined up to take the controls of the doomed flight.
Reports in France suggest Henderson, unable to make the flight, approached his friend David Ibbotson.
Henderson is said to have asked, “Do you want a weekend in Nantes?”, paid for Ibbotson to stay at a hotel in France and paid him for piloting the flight.
After the crash, Henderson was feared dead — as the flight plan listed him as the pilot.
But the father of two revealed via Facebook a pal had been flying the plane instead.
In my book, I ask: “Why did David Henderson, such a respected and experienced pilot, hand over the controls to a man (Ibbotson) with a reputation of being in debt, a part-time pilot at best and who didn’t have a licence for the commercial flight he desperately needed to make ends meet? Why has Henderson refused point-blank to co-operate with Cardiff when the club wrote directly to him, as well as his lawyers, requesting help in unravelling certain facts to which only he knows the answer?
“How is it that if David Ibbotson had one outstanding skill, it was as a skydiver? And why was the pilot not in the plane when the privately funded salvage operation discovered (Sala’s) body?
“Was the pilot able to eject before it plummeted to its fate? If the pilot survived, where is he? If he didn’t, where is his body?
“As for the police enquiries into criminal manslaughter, what did Henderson tell the police?”
Mr Dalman claims he is leading a crusade for the rights of the Sala family, saying: “The family seem to be once again disregarded here. Fifa talk about payments to Nantes. What about payments to the Sala family? If anyone should be considered here, and financially compensated, it is the family.
“There remain so many unanswered questions.
“If the player was an asset of Cardiff, what right did anyone have to make decisions on our behalf about the pilot, the state of the plane and all aspects about the licensing to fly commercially?
“A club of our size do not have vast resources.
“It is obvious we cannot hand over £15million . . . without heading toward bankruptcy.”
Last September, football’s governing body Fifa ruled that Cardiff must pay Nantes the £5.3million first instalment of the £15million fee for Sala.
That followed an unsavoury dispute over who owned the player at the time of his death. According to The Times, the ruling meant Cardiff would be liable for the rest of the fee when other instalments became due, though the club had the chance to appeal the decision.
It is understood no further money has been paid by Cardiff.
Dorset Police is still conducting its criminal probe while the Civil Aviation Authority is yet to report its findings about the crash.
‘SHEDDING TEARS’
The US-registered Piper Malibu N264DB plane often flew out of Retford Gamston Airport, Notts, and Henderson was filmed there with the plane in 2015.
It was registered in the name of “trustee” firm Southern Aircraft Consultancy, based in Suffolk, but the owner’s identity remains a mystery. The authorities here are barred from revealing who they are because the records are held by the Federal Aviation Administration in the US. Its regulations stop that information being made public.
Last year, it was revealed that Sala’s body showed high levels of carbon monoxide poisoning, which could have resulted in him — and the pilot — losing consciousness.
A pre-inquest review took place in November, but Dorset’s senior coroner Rachael Griffin said a full hearing could not be held yet.
She said: “I request updates from the police, Air Accident Investigation Branch and the Civil Aviation Authority by no later than February 14, by which point it is hoped the Air Accident Investigation Branch report will be published.”
Griffin set the next pre-inquest review hearing for March 16 — leaving Sala’s family in Argentina a long way from the full truth.
Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Progreso, Sala’s home town, for the funeral last year, when heartbreaking snaps showed the player’s loyal black labrador Nala patiently waiting.
Cardiff’s then-manager Neil Warnock was among the mourners. He said Sala, who he met briefly, was a “lovely lad” and called the period his “worst week in football”.
Warnock was seen shedding tears at Cardiff’s first game after the tragedy.
- The Killing Of Emiliano Sala, by Harry Harris, is out on January 21 (Empire Publications, £10.95).
- GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk