A DIVING expert has revealed that conditions on the day that a Droitwich doctor died off the west coast of Scotland were perfect.

Instructor Mike Morgan says the sea was still and the weather extremely calm when Stuart Haldane died on Monday.

Dr Haldane, a father of two, was among a group of nine experienced divers who had chartered a local boat, The Porpoise, to improve their expedition skills.

Although skipper David Ainsley is a diving instructor, a member of the group is believed to have been leading the expedition.

Staying locally, the group had taken part in one or two dives before setting out to spend the second day of their week-long break exploring a reef.

A huge search and rescue operation for Dr Haldane's companion Dorothy Morris was called off yesterday.

A spokeswoman for the Coastguard said today there had been no sighting of her.

The special conservation area is popular with divers as the Gulf Stream brings in clear warm waters, making it ideal for viewing marine life and its many shipwrecks.

Dr Haldane, a consultant histopathologist at Redditch's Alexandra Hospital, and Ms Morris were the last pair to enter the water.

They had been below the surface less than 15 minutes when the body of 43-year-old Dr Haldane, of Yewtree Farm, Rashford, surfaced.

Despite resuscitation attempts he was pronounced dead.

The spot is two miles south-west of the Garvellach islands, 15 miles south of Oban in a stretch of water called the Lynne of Lorne.

There is a shelf around 34m below the surface, which drops off to 62m to the south-east.

Mr Morgan, an instructor with Oban-based Puffin Dive Centre, said there were no adverse weather conditions and the area was "extremely benign", with no strong currents.

One of the Puffin Centre's rescue boats, complete with diving team, was on the scene 25 minutes after the alarm was raised at 11am, and helped search several hundred miles of the sea's surface.

"It must've been a loss of control by one or both divers," said Mr Morgan, who has 10 years' experience diving in the area.

"From the surface everything was normal. The other pairs hadn't experienced any problems. "

He said the area was not notorious for diving accidents and, although there had been three or four deaths over the past two years, these had occurred miles apart from each other.

"If anything was freaky about the weather, it was that it was so good," he said. "The water was like a shiny glass."

Father-of-two Dr Haldane, of Yewtree Farm, Rashford, leaves a widow Sally.

TRIBUTES have continued to be paid to Dr Stuart Haldane.

Yesterday, stunned colleagues from the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch remembered the father-of-two, who was a consultant histopathologist.

"It is with great sadness that we hear of Dr Haldane's death," said a spokeswoman.

"He was a well-liked and respected consultant at the Alexandra Hospital.

"Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time."

Dr Haldane had been at the hospital for 14 months, after joining the team from the Royal Wolverhampton Hospital.

The Cambridge graduate, aged 43, had moved from London around six years ago with his two children and his wife, Sally.

An experienced diver and member of Whittington Diving Club, he had travelled to Oban for a week-long advanced course.

A charter vessel raised the alarm when Dr Haldane and Ms Morris went missing.

Two helicopters and two lifeboats were scrambled, scouring a 25 sq mile area while other boats joined the search.