A MAN has denied causing the deaths of his partner and her 10-year-old daughter on a privately-owned boat on Windermere in April last year.

Matthew Stuart Eteson, of Appleton Road, Hale, Cheshire, pleaded not guilty to two charges of manslaughter by gross negligence at Carlisle Crown Court today (September 2).

Kelly Webster, 36, and her daughter Lauren Thornton, both from Leyland, Lancashire, were found unconscious as a result of carbon monoxide fumes on the 30ft Bayliner cruiser moored off a Bowness jetty on April 1 2013.

After treatment by paramedics at the scene, they were airlifted by the North West Air Ambulance to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary where they both died.

The 41-year-old is on bail and will stand trial at Carlisle Crown Court on November 10.