A Hampshire businessman who denied the manslaughter of his friend in a boating accident is due to stand trial today (Monday).

Earlier this year 33-year-old Aaron Brown appeared at Winchester Crown Court charged with killing his friend Ryan McKinlay, 36, who died a year ago after a boating incident off the Isle of Wight.

Brown, of Harmsworth Farm, Curbridge, is a Chief Operating Officer at Whitey-based telcoms firm OneCom and was arrested after a police investigation into Mr McKinlay’s death.

At the time a police spokesman said: “He was travelling as a passenger on a Rigid Inflatable Boat on the afternoon of Friday, June 19, 2015 when a collision occurred in Osborne Bay with a larger motorboat, which had been carrying the RIB on the Solent earlier the same day.”

The case was adjourned and Brown was given unconditional bail.

The trial also sees Paul Carey charged with being the person responsible for the conduct of a vessel which contravened Merchant Shipping regulations.

He also pleaded not guilty at a previous hearing.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court is expected to last three weeks.