A PUBLIC inquiry has heard there was no evidence a trawler which sank in 1974 with the loss of 36 men -- one of whom was from Burnley -- was involved in spying for the Ministry of Defence.

Attorney General Lord Goldsmith was opening a new inquiry into the events surrounding the loss of the Hull-based Gaul which sank in heavy seas in the Barents Sea, off the northern tip of Norway.

Sheila Doone, of Sackville Street, Brierfield, is part of a group of relatives who have campaigned to be told the truth about the Gaul's sinking.

Her husband, John, was a radio operator on the trawler which sank amid rumours it was involved in espionage.

Lord Goldsmith told the inquiry it was proper that the inquiry should consider speculation which has been ongoing for 30 years.

He told the inquiry, which is being held in Hull, that the Defence Intelligence Staff, MI6 and GCHQ had all conducted investigations for him to see what material they held of relevance to the loss of the Gaul and had come up with nothing.

Lord Goldsmith said: "All three services have confirmed they have no documents which are relevant to these questions.

"In addition, witness statements have been provided by officers of both the Defence Intelligence Staff and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) which gives some background to the use made of trawlers other than the Gaul in the 1960s and early 1970s."

The Attorney General told the inquiry that MI6 had told him a Royal Navy Commander was stationed in Hull during the 1960s to liaise with trawler skippers over intelligence. But he retired in 1971 and the scheme ended then.

Lord Goldsmith said: "The scheme was not in operation by the time the Gaul was built nor during the time she was in service."

But he said despite the scheme not being in operation in the early 1970s two trawlers were used by the Royal Navy for secret missions in the Barents Sea.

Lord Goldsmith said the trawler Invincible was used in 1972 in an attempt to recover a lost missile and the vessel Lord Nelson was used for a similar purpose the following year.

The Attorney General said: "On both occasions the mission was unsuccessful."

He added: "The Gaul was not used by any part of the Ministry of Defence for any purpose.

"There is nothing which suggests that the Gaul was engaged in any activity other than fishing on her last voyage and nothing to suggest that anyone on board her was engaged in any activity other than fishing on that voyage."

Lord Goldsmith also told the inquiry that another long-standing theory about the loss of the Gaul, that it became snagged on a secret cable, would also be explored.

The Attorney General said there had been speculation the ship had become caught on a cable which had been laid in the Cold War to monitor the movements of Soviet submarines.

He said the Ministry of Defence and relevant United States authorities had always denied the existence of the cable.

Lord Goldsmith said a piece of cable spotted by one of the surveys of the wreck of the Gaul had not been found since.

The judge began the day's proceedings with a minute's silence in remembrance of the 36 seamen who died on the Gaul.

The original inquiry into the loss of the Gaul concluded in 1974 that the ship had become a victim of mountainous seas which had engulfed it.

Although the position of the wreck was determined by the mid-1970s it was not visited until two decades later, when it was found by a survey team put together for a TV documentary.

In 2002 another survey discovered remains of four of the men on board.