A coroner has charged an American tourist with murdering his newly wed wife while diving at the Great Barrier Reef.

Christina Mae Watson, a 26-year-old novice diver from Alabama, drowned while diving near a shipwreck in October 2003 with her husband of 11 days, David Gabriel Watson, known as Gabe.

Final submissions to the long-running inquest were heard in a Townsville court yesterday, with police alleging there was enough evidence to charge Mr Watson with murder.