Men on Brimble's cruise were idiots

ONE of the eight persons of interest in the cruise ship death of Dianne Brimble has labelled his seven travelling companions as ''idiots'' who constantly made lewd remarks to women over the course of the trip.

ONE of the eight persons of interest in the cruise ship death of Dianne Brimble has labelled his seven travelling companions as ''idiots'' who constantly made lewd remarks to women over the course of the trip.

''It was just so horrendously embarrassing,'' Mr Slade said of travelling with the group

''It felt like I had got on the back of a bus with a bunch of teenagers.''

Mr Slade described the seven other men as ''really rough guys'', most of whom he only met at Adelaide airoprt as they were preparing to board their flight to Sydney ahead of the cruise.

Once on board the plane, Mr Slade said his travelling mates commented loudly on the appearance of female passengers. When he asked them to ''calm down'' they called him a ''poofter''.

''I was not there to hang around these idiots,'' Mr Slade told the Sydney inquest, adding that he soon realised he was ''the nerdy little guy'' they would pick on and so decided that he would try and distance himself from the group on the cruise.

Mr Slade also told the court that he had been told that a ''possible'' death threat had been made against him in the wake of the publicity surrounding Mrs Brimble's death.

Mr Slade said he had moved house since the inquest began last year, and the new occupants of the house subsequently received a call apparently intended for him.

''I don't know if it was a prank call ... but they (the new tenants) did get a death threat,'' Mr Slade told the inquest.

''They said 'we know where you are, we're gonna come round'.''

Mr Slade said he believed the alleged threat may have been connected to the fact that he had told police that he had bought ecstasy pills prior to boarding the ship.

NSW Deputy State Coroner Jacqueline Milledge adjourned the inquest 50 minutes before the scheduled 1pm lunch break.

Mr Slade had began giving evidence about his actions on the morning that Mrs Brimble's body was found on the floor of the cabin that he was sharing with three other men - Leo Silvestri, Mark Wilhelm and Ryan Kuchel.

Mr Slade said he awoke with a bad hangover and ran straight out of the cabin because he needed to vomit and he didn't want to do so in front of his cabin mates.

Mr Slade said he did not recall seeing a woman on the floor of the cabin. But in the statement he gave to police on the day after Mrs Brimble's death, Mr Slade said he woke up and rolled over to see ''the lady, naked''.

Ms Milledge said she was ''not happy'' with parts of Mr Slade's evidence and asked his lawyer to discuss certain parts of his client's testimony with him before the inquest resumes.

Mrs Brimble, a 42-year-old mother of three, died aboard the P&O liner Pacific Sky in September 2002 from a toxic combination of alcohol and the date-rape drug fantasy.