Richard Cousins & Family

Richard, Heather, Emma, Ed, Will, and Gareth (Credit: Daily Star)

Richard John Cousins was born March 29th, 1959 in Leeds, England. On December 31st, 2017, the small plane carrying Richard and his family crashed into the Hawkesbury River, killing everyone on board.

From top left to bottom right: Richard Cousins age 58, Heather Bowden age 11, Emma Bowden age 48, Ed Cousins age 23, Will Cousins age 25. and the pilot Gareth Morgan age 44.

On August 25th, 2015, Richard lost his wife, and mother of his sons, of 22 years to cancer. Over a year later he met Emma Bowden, and was planning a wedding for July of 2018. They even sent out wedding invitations before leaving for Australia.

Sydney Seaplanes

Sydney Seaplanes give sightseeing tours around Australia using small sea planes. owned the plane involved in the crash. It was a BHC-2 Beaver, which had already been involved in another fatal crash in 1996.

Eyewitness reports claim that the plane took a hard right, and then did a nosedive into the Hawkesbury River. This occurred roughly 25 miles north of Sydney, at approximately 3:10 pm.

Cause of death for all six involved included the impact of the crash, and drowning, as the plane quickly sunk to the bottom of the river.

Compass Group

Richard Cousins (Credit: News-Mail Australia)

Richard became the CEO of Compass Group in 2006. The company was involved in several scandals before Richard became the CEO.

Despite the scandals, he was able to turn Compass Group into the #1 catering company in the world, employing more than half a million people in 50 countries.

The Compass Group built the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. The group worked with architects from Polshek Architects, now called Ennead, who also built the Standard Hotel in New York.

In September of 2017, he announced that he would be stepping down as CEO in March of 2018. The Compass Group gave this statement regarding the death of Richard.

Family Ties

Emma and Heather Bowden (Credit: Mirror UK)

The oldest son, Will Cousins, was the head of press for Open Britain. George Soros and his foundations funded Open Britain, which was focused on stopping Brexit. Statements from friends and coworkers of Will were gathered here on Guernseys Press.

The younger son, Ed, graduated college in June 2017. The crash occurred a few months later, so he was unable to start his career.

Emma Bowden, the fiance of Richard, was the head art director for OK! Magazine, operating in Britain. The father of Emma, Gerald Bowden, was a member of the British Parliament. He passed away on January 7th, 2020.

Oxfam Charity

Oxfam in Haiti (Credit: theipinions.com)

Richard was going to give his estate to his two sons in the event that he passed away. A year before the crash he had his will changed to include a common tragedy clause. This addition is put in place so that In the event that the family passes away at the same time, it decides who inherits your estate.

After these changes were made, Oxfam received 41 million British pounds upon the death of Richard, Will, and Ed. The rest of the estate was given to the two brothers of Richard, roughly 1 million pounds each.

Oxfam has been involved in several sex abuse scandals. One of the more well known scandals was in relation to aid workers buying prostitutes in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. The Clinton Foundation, Red Cross, UNICEF, and others were also involved in this abuse.

The Pilot

Gareth Morgan was the pilot of the BHC-2 Beaver involved in the crash. Originally from Canada, he was a skilled pilot with over 10,000 hours of flight experience. 9,000 of these hours were spent in seaplanes like the BHC-2.

Gareth Morgan Obituary

The crash happened so quickly that Gareth was unable to radio for help. There was no report of an explosion occurring while the aircraft was in flight.

Despite being the pilot of the aircraft, he has no connection to the Clinton family or their associates. He was an innocent bystander, in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Kurt Bratby, and three of his friends, attempted to save them by jumping into the water after the crash. Despite all of their efforts, they were unable to get the door open. The group of guys remorsistated that there was no life left inside the seaplane.

It is possible that a device called the QRS-11 was used to stall the engine. These are attached to the aircraft so that it can be remotely activated later. Once activated, it is able to shut down all electronics connected to the seaplane, including the engine.