A MISSING sailor has been officially declared dead after an application by Royal Navy top brass against the wishes of his wife and family.

Timmy McColl's wife Rachael received his death certificate from the Royal Navy despite her pleas to allow a prolonged enquiry by police in Dubai, where he vanished two years ago to remain open.

Mrs MacColl said: "Technically now Timmy has been dead from the day he went missing. It's just absolutely beyond me.

"I fought the Royal Navy for months. I said I didn't support the application for a death certificate. They told me 'that's fine,' they didn't need me to.

"Because he was a civil servant and because of his military contract it was out of my hands.

"They informed me. They didn't involve me. ."

Normally it takes seven years to have a missing person declared dead but the RN steam-rollered it through in less than two.

The Leading Seaman had spent his last-known hours swimming at the Seafarers' Mission in Dubai before going on to the Rock Bottom bar/restaurant frequented by sailors in the Middle Eastern city's Bur Dubai.

There he was put in a taxi by two shipmates at around 2am on Sunday May 27, 2012.

A massive probe by Dubai detectives saw them interview the Bangladeshi taxi driver who dropped Mr McColl, 28, off at a tea shack in sprawling Port Rashid where his ship HMS Westminster was docked.

Workers claimed they saw Mr MacColl near the ship angrily talking about going back into Dubai to settle an earlier argument. The Royal Navy said: "We can confirm Leading Seaman McColl's death has been registered."