Yacht skippers based in Antigua have met with the local police commissioner Thomas Bennett, the island’s prime minister Baldwin Spencer and other leading politicians in an effort to improve security following the shooting dead of 38-year old Australian superyacht skipper Drew Gollan last week.

More patrols in the English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour areas of Antigua have been promised but this has not be enough to stop several large yachts leaving the island, some of their own accord and others under instructions from their management companies, according to a local source. “We are hoping this will make a statement to the authorities, that the police situation will improve and that in time yachts will return,” said our source.

John Duffy, president of the Antigua and Barbuda Marine Association chaired the meeting in which commissioner Bennett suggested that people from other areas on the island target the yachting centres in English and Falmouth Harbours because of the ‘rich pickings’ on offer.