Emiliano Sala died when a plane plunged into the English Channel on January 21 last year
Police will take no further action against the 64-year-old pilot arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in relation to the plane crash that killed footballer Emiliano Sala.
Dorset Police arrested David Henderson, a private pilot from North Yorkshire, in connection with the Cardiff City striker’s death in January last year.
Mr Henderson’s name was on a flight plan submitted to Nantes airport the day of the journey, before it was cancelled and replaced with a second plan with David Ibbotson named as the pilot.
Mr Henderson was arrested on June 19 last year.
The Piper Malibu PA-46 flown by Mr Ibbotson went down off Guernsey on January 21. It later emerged that Mr Ibbotson was not qualified to fly at night and should not have been carrying commercial passengers.
Detective Inspector Simon Huxter, of Dorset Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team, said: ‘We have carried out a detailed examination into the circumstances of Mr Sala’s death, this has been a complex investigation involving the examination of a large amount of evidence and in liaison with a range of organisations.
David Henderson (pictured with the doomed plane) was arrested on suspicion of the manslaughter of Emiliano Sala and David Ibbotson
Dave Ibbotson, 59, was flying the Piper PA-46 Malibu light aircraft with Mr Sala inside. It later emerged he did not have the correct licence to carry paying passengers
‘We have worked closely with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) during our investigation and we are now able to confirm that Dorset Police will not be seeking a formal charging decision by the CPS in relation to homicide offences.’
Argentinian striker Sala, 28, was flying from Nantes in France to his new club Cardiff City when the Piper Malibu aircraft plunged into the Channel on January 21 last year.
His body was recovered but pilot David Ibbotson, 59, has not been found.
An interim report published by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) last year revealed that Sala had CO saturation levels of 58 per cent in blood taken from his dead body.
Doctors have told crash investigators that levels in excess of 50 per cent in the bloodstream typically causes seizures, then unconsciousness, followed by cardiac arrest and death.
The report raises the prospect that the footballer and his pilot may have blacked out or even perished before the small plane ploughed into the sea 22 miles off Guernsey on January 21 last year.
Fans look at the flowers placed outside Cardiff City Stadium in tribute to Sala – who never played for his new club – on February 2 last year
A pre-inquest review held in Bournemouth in November last year, heard that the wreckage of the plane in which footballer Emiliano Sala was killed in will not be recovered from the sea despite the wishes of the family to do otherwise.
An official for the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) confirmed they did not intend to lift the Pipa Malibu light aircraft from the seabed as it was not necessary for their investigations.
This was in direct opposition to the family of the 28-year-old footballer who believe a proper examination of the wreckage could yield more clues as to why it crashed on January 21 last year.
Matthew Reeve, the lawyer representing the Argentinian’s family, also questioned why a blood sample taken from Mr Sala’s body in February was not tested for carbon monoxide until four months later.
A preliminary AAIB report into the aircraft crash that killed Mr Sala and pilot David Ibbotson revealed the footballer had been exposed to deadly levels of carbon monoxide poisoning before the plane plunged into the English Channel.
David Ibbotson (pictured with wife Nora) was flying the Piper Malibu light aircraft carrying the 28-year-old Cardiff City signing
In November, Mr Reeve said: ‘The family disagree with the decision not to salvage the aircraft and wish to notify the coroner that on October 22 a survey took place near the site which reveals the wreckage has moved and may not remain in place for much longer.
‘The family have questions about why the initial blood tests conducted on Mr Sala in February did not test for carbon monoxide and what caused them to be tested for it in June.’
Mr Reeve was replying to comments made by Geraint Herbert, of the AAIB, who said that it was not safe to recover the plane wreckage.
He said: ‘Recovering an aircraft from the sea poses different challenges to on land.
‘It is quite a simple aircraft and in the circumstances we do not believe we need to recover the aircraft.
‘It would be difficult to find out whether the damage to the plane was caused pre-impact or by subsequent deterioration in the sea.
The wreckage of the Piper Malibu still sits at the bottom of the Channel (pictured in February) – 220ft down
‘We have to consider the safety of the divers and the practicality of it.’
Rachael Griffin, the senior coroner for Dorset, adjourned the inquest until March 16 for another pre-inquest review.
She has requested updates from the respective authorities by February 14.
She said: ‘I request updates from the police, Air Accident Investigation Branch and the Civil Aviation Authority by no later than February 14 next year by which point it is hoped the Air Accident Investigation report will be published.
‘I wish to send my condolences to the families of Mr Sala and Mr Ibbotson.’
A post mortem examination revealed Mr Sala died of head and chest injuries when the light aircraft crashed in the sea 22 miles off Guernsey.
Sala’s body was recovered from the wreckage of the plane more than 22 miles off Guernsey in early February
The Piper PA-46 Malibu plane was taking him from Nantes in France to Cardiff following his record £15million transfer to the Welsh club when it plunged into the water. It sank in 220ft of water.
Mr Sala’s body was found on February 6 and brought to Portland, Dorset, on February 7 when he was officially pronounced deceased.
The Argentinian striker was identified using finger print evidence analysed by an expert Christopher Bradbury.
Home Office Forensic pathologist Basil Purdue carried out a post mortem examination which confirmed the cause of death as ‘head and trunk injuries’.
Toxicology tests found Mr Sala had potentially fatal levels of caroxyhaemoglobin – formed in the blood when exposed to carbon monoxide – in his blood.
The AAIB said carbon monoxide poisoning could reduce a pilot’s ability to fly a plane by causing symptoms including impaired judgement and blurred vision.
This has prompted lawyers for the Sala family to call for the plane to be recovered from the sea to be investigated.