Breaking news on a 30-year mystery is being carried at Mediaworld, the website of freelance journalist Graham Smith.

He's been following the case of The Gaul trawler for decades, campaigning for the families that lost their loved ones at sea when the Gaul sank in 1974.

An inquiry chaired by High Court judge Sir David Steele has finally opened into the tragedy, with Mediaworldnews carrying updates and exclusives.

The Gaul sank with all hands in the Barents Sea off the North Cape at the height of the Cold War with the loss of all 36 crew. How and why she sank remains a mystery.

An official inquiry rules the Gaul sank in heavy seas. Deputy PM and former seaman John Prescott decided to order the new search of the wreckage for clues and bodies, but he fell short of asking for a manned dive.

The hearing comes amid bitter accusations of deception against the Government by the families of the missing crew, following evidence linking the fishing boat to espionage against the Soviet fleet.

With families fearing a whitewash over what happened, the inquiry is expected to examine extraordinary accounts from various branches of British intelligence.

Graham has also invested his time in checking out alleged sightings of 'lost' crew members, as well as other aspects of the mystery.

Within minutes, the Government's chief legal adviser Lord Goldsmith told the hearing that exhaustive inquiries among Britain's security agencies had failed to find any connection between the Gaul and a Cold War spying mission.

Instead, he told the room that the only job being carried out by the 36-man crew was fishing.

See also: "I am married to a ghost!".

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