Cruise ship passenger describes drunken 'carnage' before grandad died on stag do
Police are investigating the death of James Messham who died after a fight broke out on the MSC Virtuosa, but a passenger on the fateful cruise says the violence began from the moment people boarded
A passenger on board a cruise ship where a man is suspected to have been murdered has described the behaviour of other guests as 'carnage'.
The 21-year-old, who does not want to be named but who we will call Claire, told the Mirror that fighting began as soon as she boarded the MSC Virtuosa ship with her boyfriend who was celebrating his birthday. And she claims it continued throughout the two day return cruise from Southampton to Belgium.
She told the Mirror: 'It was full of stag and hen dos that just made the boat really rowdy. We got on the boat the first day about 2pm and it was all sunny and we went to the pool but you could already see fights breaking out.
'We got to the pool about 3pm and people who were already on the boat were in drunken arguments and scraps. We were sat quite far back and all of a sudden you would hear cheering and chanting and you would look over and see people fighting. The bar staff were still serving people to the point they were paralytically drunk, it was just carnage.'
A 57-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of the murder of a 60-year-old grandfather.
Tragic James Messham, who has been described as a 'lovely' grandfather, ran a motorcycle stunt show and was reportedly on a stag do when he was killed in an 'altercation'. The suspect has since been released on bail.
Mr Messham is understood to have been travelling with relatives who helped him run popular motorbike stunt show the Wall of Death. Joby Carter described him as a 'proper gent' who was part of Carter's Steam Fair until around eight years ago.
He said: 'I was absolutely gutted when I heard the news. He was a legend. We used to travel Carter's Steam Fair. He approached us because he had a wall of death and wanted to travel with us.
'We always got along with him. He was a proper gent, salt of the earth. You knew if you had a problem he would come and help you any time day or night."
The incident happened just two hours after the ship left port, but according to Claire passengers were not informed anything had happened.
She said: 'It is just so strange to us. They had a body and the murder suspect on the boat for two days and did not tell us a thing, we were only two and a half hours away from Southampton when it happened, why didn't we just turn back and get them off? It is so unnerving to know we spent the entire voyage with both those people still onboard.'
Mr Messham's death was the second tragedy onboard MSC Virtuosa in a matter of months.
Colombian national Jessica Andrea Gómez Granda, 28, died after falling overboard near the Channel Islands in October. The ship is used to film Channel 5 drama The Good Ship Murder starring X Factor winner Shayne Ward.
An MSC spokesperson said: 'Following an incident on board our ship, the relevant authorities were contacted, and we are cooperating fully with their investigations. We are providing full support to those impacted and thoughts are with the family and friends at this difficult time.'
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