Deckhand breaks 25-year silence on Kirsty MacColl's death in Mexico

The case of Kirsty MacColl’s death off Cozumel in 2000 has returned to the forefront after a former deckhand gave a public account claiming he was the one driving the speedboat that struck the British singer as she dove with her sons. Jose Cen Yam, who for years insisted he was behind the wheel of the 31-foot motorboat Percalito, spoke to the Mail on Sunday from his home on the Mexican island, offering what he described as the truth about that day.

MacColl, 41 at the time, was holidaying with her children Louis and Jamie when the family was struck by the boat while she was underwater near the island paradise’s famed reefs on December 18, 2000. The incident, which occurred in waters that were supposed to be within a protected diving zone, left MacColl dead and sparked decades of questions about responsibility, speed, and the possible involvement of a powerful owner. Cen Yam says, without hesitation: "No, it was me. That's the truth. The family [of Gonzalez Nova] never put pressure on me to admit to anything I didn't do. I have always told the truth about this." He also rejected the notion that Guillermo Gonzalez Nova, the late Mexican billionaire who owned the Percalito, was at the helm.

"Absolutely not," Cen Yam said when asked if Gonzalez Nova drove the boat that day. If there was pressure, Cen Yam said, it came from nowhere, and he has stood by his account since police records first documented the crash. He described a moment when he heard a strange whirring from the propeller and then saw MacColl in the water. "I was going at about five miles an hour," he insisted. "There was no bang in the boat, just the noise of a propeller doing this weird stuff. I thought, 'I've gone over something'. So I slowed and went to the back of the boat and I saw her there."

The new interview arrives amid long-running assertions by MacColl’s family that the case was mishandled and that a high-net-worth individual could shelter behind a ‘fall guy’ while avoiding costly litigation. Steve Lillywhite, MacColl’s former husband and the father of her two sons, has publicly argued that Cen Yam’s account is an expedient fabrication by a powerful employer, not a confession. Lillywhite has said, "no one believes" Cen Yam was driving and that the billionaire Gonzalez Nova orchestrated a cover-up to shield himself from liability. Cen Yam rejected the suggestion that the billionaire influenced the case, stressing that there was no pressure on him to change his account.

Cen Yam acknowledges that the affair has haunted him since the arrest that followed the crash. He was prosecuted for culpable homicide and was ultimately sentenced in 2003 to two years and ten months in prison, a term that was not served because he paid a sum equivalent to roughly $90 at the time to avoid imprisonment. He contends that his memory has not wavered, and he remains sorrowful about the tragedy, while insisting there is no basis to doubt his version of events.

The circumstances surrounding the accident have long been contested. Reports at the time indicated that the Percalito, a high-powered craft, was owned by Gonzalez Nova and was captained by him or his licensed crewman. A witness told police he saw a dark-haired man at the controls about an hour before the crash, fueling questions about who was driving and why absolute accountability had proven so elusive. The diver instructor who guided MacColl and her sons, Ivan Diaz, later recalled the vessel closing in with apparent speed, which prompted Diaz to shout warnings as he surfaced from the reef.

The trial and its aftermath further complicated the narrative. The MacColl family’s pursuit of truth culminated in a Justice for Kirsty campaign that sought transparency and accountability from Mexican authorities, arguing that the legal system did not deliver a full judicial review. The campaign wound down in 2009, and Jean Newlove, MacColl’s mother, died in 2017 at age 94, leaving behind a legacy of advocacy that persisted long after public attention faded.

Cen Yam’s account, his statement to police at the time, and the diver’s testimony about the boat’s proximity to divers in or near the park boundary have continued to feed a divide between those who believe the case was mishandled and those who accept that the tragedy was a fatal accident. The Percalito’s ownership by a billionaire and the lack of a definitive judicial resolution have created a narrative in which wealth and influence are perceived as factors that may shield individuals from full accountability, even as the families of the victims pursue an elusive justice.

As the living witnesses recount the moments before and after the collision, questions remain about the precise location of the dive, the exact speed of the boat, and whether the divers were within the official protected zone when the incident occurred. Cen Yam has maintained that he was in the correct area and that the divers were in a risky position, while Diaz has suggested the boat’s approach was swift and potentially dangerous. Gonzalez Nova’s involvement has been the subject of speculation for years, with the family arguing that the real driver could have been the wealth behind the Percalito’s operation.

Whether Cen Yam’s statements will bring renewed scrutiny to the case remains unclear. What is certain is that in the 25 years since Kirsty MacColl’s death, the questions that emerged at sea off Cozumel have not found a final answer. The enduring debate, framed by family advocacy and competing narratives about power, money, and justice, continues to color the discourse around the cultural icon whose Christmas classic, Fairytale of New York, endures in popular memory while her life remains a subject of unresolved questions.