Inquest is shown footage of racer's fatal powerboat crash into Oulton Broad houseboat as widow tells how she filmed him

Brett Duncan, 51, a tech boss from Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, died from fatal head injuries after his borrowed hydroplane failed to turn a buoy and smashed into a moored steel-framed houseboat at Oulton Broad on 24 July 2025. His widow, Rhianon Phillips-Duncan, told the inquest she was filming him from the clubhouse when she watched the boat veer off course and stop abruptly. Houseboat owner Jaki Beech, who was on board with her niece, said the hydroplane "disintegrated" on impact and called the sport "highly dangerous".

Duncan was not wearing a kill-switch cord on his wrist, something his widow said she was 'surprised' to learn.

Duncan had borrowed the 3.9-metre hydroplane from friend Peter Rix and raced it with a new steering damper fitted before the fatal collision.

Beech told the court that hydroplanes should be banned from racing on Oulton Broad, and the local motor boat club has already cancelled its 2026 season.