Restricted Case File

Kev Mason

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Maritime Evidence Dossier Kev Mason

Subject: Kev Mason

Overview

This dossier contains confidential records for Kev Mason.

Material is provisional, cross-referenced from recovered files, protected records, and field notes.

FORMAL SAFETY INTERVIEW RECORD

SUBJECT: Kev Mason

CLASSIFICATION: OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE // SAFETY INVESTIGATION

REFERENCE: CONTROLLED COPY // COT/MARINE/2035/CTC057

Document control

CASE REFERENCE: COT/MARINE/2035/CTC057

SUBJECT: Kev Mason

CENTRAL RECORD: COTF5EBD99653116

RANK / APPOINTMENT: RNLI second-in-command

ORGANISATION: RNLI

DATE OF BIRTH: 1995-12-27

PLACE / NATIONALITY: Unknown, East Coast England, British

INTERVIEW STATUS: Witness / account holder

LOCATION: Secure interview suite — location withheld

DATE: 19 September 2035

LEAD AUTHORITY: Marine Accident Investigation Branch

RECORDING MEDIA: Two sealed digital masters and one independent evidential hash

DISTRIBUTION: Named recipients only. No automated onward distribution.

NOTE: Handling notice. This document contains operational, personal and evidential material. It may be read only by a person with both the required clearance and a recorded need to know. Extraction of images, transcript segments or metadata creates a new controlled copy.

Identity and visual evidence control

VISUAL ASSET STATUS: Passport image: attached; dossier image frames available: 2; surveillance frames available: 1; identity match: matched by subject/asset map.

Passport-style identity photograph for Kev Mason — IDENTITY EXHIBIT P-01 Controlled identity photograph retained for internal case comparison. Not for release outside this compartment; confirm against the subject record and custody ledger.

Reason for interview or reconstruction

This record concerns the subject's knowledge of Orion Star, Argus, surveillance, MV Argus; and associated decisions, communications and evidence handling. The scope of this record is confined to the matters set out above and to evidence formally introduced during the session.

Preliminary investigator note

The subject was cooperative on chronology and guarded on attribution. Answers became more exact when the interviewers distinguished direct observation from later analysis.

Recorded interview transcript

LEAD INSPECTOR: State your full name for the record.

KEV MASON: Kev Mason

LEAD INSPECTOR: Do you understand the status of this interview and the limits placed on distribution?

KEV MASON: I understand. My agreement to answer does not waive any objection already entered into the record.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Have you been offered the representation, legal advice or staff support applicable to this procedure?

KEV MASON: Yes. The offer should not be mistaken for my acceptance of your account.

DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-01 Retained extract: Inside, the RNLI team was already moving—Kev Mason, her second-in-command, was tugging on his lifejacket while barking orders. “We’re up against it, lads—fire on deck, possible explosion, at least one ship already under! Relevant systems or locations: Orion Star, Argus, surveillance

LEAD INSPECTOR: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?

KEV MASON: You are asking for certainty that did not exist on the deck. I can give you the decision and the reason for it. Check Orion Star against the unprocessed record before you accept the later label.

LEAD INSPECTOR: What did you understand at that moment, before later analysis supplied a larger explanation?

KEV MASON: At the time I acted on what the bridge could physically verify, not on what a later system said I ought to have known. The missing interval matters more than the wording placed around it afterwards.

DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-02 Retained extract: The eerie glow of fire reflected in Kev Mason’s visor as he stood at the bow, pointing. “Two o’clock! Associated persons: Harriet Caldwell Relevant systems or locations: MV Argus, Argus

LEAD INSPECTOR: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?

KEV MASON: I accept the event. I do not accept the conclusion you have attached to it. My answer is limited to what I personally saw, heard or ordered.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Who else was physically present and capable of confirming your account without relying on the same electronic record?

KEV MASON: You are asking for certainty that did not exist on the deck. I can give you the decision and the reason for it. Harriet Caldwell can confirm the sequence, but not necessarily the interpretation.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Are you saying the official record is wrong?

KEV MASON: I am saying two honest records can disagree when they were generated from the same compromised source.

DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-03 Retained extract: His hands clawed at the sides of the boat, his entire body vibrating like a live wire. “It wasn’t an accident,” he rasped. “It wasn’t—it wasn’t—” Kev Mason, kneeling beside him, tried to press him back down. “You’re safe, mate. Relevant systems or locations: Orion Star, Argus

LEAD INSPECTOR: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?

KEV MASON: That is the order as I remember it. The machinery and the later summary are separate questions. The missing interval matters more than the wording placed around it afterwards.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Why was the matter not escalated through the ordinary reporting route?

DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-04 Retained extract: Kev Mason didn’t look thrilled about it. “Maggie, we’re stretched thin as it is. Associated persons: Wei Zhang, Leon Beltran

LEAD INSPECTOR: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?

KEV MASON: You are asking for certainty that did not exist on the deck. I can give you the decision and the reason for it. I will not improve my memory to make the chronology easier.

LEAD INSPECTOR: What part of the retained record is incomplete or misleading?

KEV MASON: That is the order as I remember it. The machinery and the later summary are separate questions. My answer is limited to what I personally saw, heard or ordered.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Are you saying the official record is wrong?

KEV MASON: I am saying the record should remain evidence, not become an alibi for the system that produced it.

Restricted surveillance exhibit S-01 concerning Kev Mason — SURVEILLANCE EXHIBIT S-01 Internal surveillance frame retained under the case evidence schedule. Do not treat date, location, association or conduct as established without the source ledger and adjacent frames.

[Exhibit S-01 introduced. Subject permitted to inspect the displayed copy without handling the source medium.]

LEAD INSPECTOR: Do you identify the person shown as yourself?

KEV MASON: I identify myself in the frame. I cannot authenticate the date from the crop alone.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Can you establish the location or date from anything visible in the frame?

KEV MASON: The location is supportable from the surroundings. The purpose you are implying is not.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Were you aware that the image was being made?

KEV MASON: I was not aware of the camera at the time shown.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Who had advance knowledge of your presence at that location?

KEV MASON: That depends on whether the source is an official system, a copied feed or a separate observer.

LEAD INSPECTOR: What does this image prove, and what does it not prove?

KEV MASON: Preserve the frames before and after it. A single image is a fact about light, not a complete account of conduct.

Dossier visual exhibit C-02 concerning Kev Mason — DOSSIER IMAGE EXHIBIT C-02 Internal restricted case image retained in the subject folder. Use only within this compartment; verify context against the interview record, source ledger and custody notes.

[Exhibit S-02 introduced. Subject permitted to inspect the displayed copy without handling the source medium.]