A quarter of a century has passed since the vibrant life of British music icon Kirsty MacColl was tragically extinguished in the cerulean waters off Mexico's Cozumel island. Yet, the questions surrounding her horrifying death have never fully subsided. Now, in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, the man officially blamed for the accident has broken his long public silence, directly confronting sensational claims of a high-level conspiracy.
The Fatal Day and Conflicting Accounts
On 18 December 2000, the 41-year-old singer, famed for her timeless duet on Fairytale of New York, was scuba diving with her two sons, Jamie, 15, and Louis, 13, within a protected marine park. As they surfaced, a powerful 31-foot speedboat named The Percalito struck MacColl with its propeller, killing her instantly. Witnesses said she screamed a warning and pushed her eldest son to safety in her final, heroic act.
The boat was owned by Guillermo Gonzalez Nova, a billionaire supermarket tycoon and one of Mexico's wealthiest men, who was on board with family. Initially, reports and police statements suggested Gonzalez Nova was at the helm. However, the narrative shifted when his 26-year-old deckhand, Jose Cen Yam, came forward to claim responsibility.
A Fall Guy or the True Driver?
For years, MacColl's family, led by her mother Jean Newlove and ex-husband, record producer Steve Lillywhite, have campaigned for justice, alleging a cover-up. They argue that Cen Yam was a 'fall guy', pressured to take the blame to shield his powerful employer from a costly lawsuit. "No one believes that Cen Yam was driving the boat," Lillywhite stated recently.
Speaking from Cozumel, where he now works as a handyman, Cen Yam vehemently denies this. "No, it was me," he insists. "That's the truth. The family [of Gonzalez Nova] never put pressure on me to admit to anything I didn't do." He asserts Gonzalez Nova was "absolutely not" driving.
He describes the moment of impact: "I was going at about five miles an hour... I didn't see anyone in the water... then I heard a propeller make a very strange noise." Finding MacColl fatally injured, he held onto her diving gear for half an hour until help arrived. "I don't feel shame over this. It was an accident," he states defiantly.
Unanswered Questions and a Quest for Justice
The official investigation left glaring inconsistencies that fuel the family's scepticism. Cen Yam was found guilty of culpable homicide in 2003 but avoided jail by paying a fine equivalent to roughly £60. Key doubts remain:
- Who was qualified? Only Gonzalez Nova held the necessary licence for the high-speed boat. Cen Yam, under questioning, displayed limited nautical knowledge.
- What was the speed? Cen Yam's claim of moving at 5mph contradicts the dive instructor's account of a boat approaching "at great speed."
- Where did it happen? Cen Yam maintains he was in the correct zone and the divers were not, a claim disputed by the professional dive team.
Despite the campaign for a full judicial review, which disbanded in 2009, the MacColl family feel justice was never served. "All I ever wanted was the truth and an apology," Jean Newlove said before her death in 2017. "I never got the truth."
With Gonzalez Nova having died in 2009 and Cen Yam sticking steadfastly to his story, the tragic mystery of who was truly at the helm on that fateful December day may never be conclusively solved.
