Pair linked to missing yacht

Steve and Carol Holland's yacht, Harlech, went missing from its Opua mooring.

Police are investigating whether the disappearance of a Whangarei couple's yacht is linked to a pair of serial fraudsters said to be desperate to get out of the country after a $50,000 bounty was placed on their heads.

Police are looking for Paul James Bennett and Simone Ann Wright in relation to allegations of fraud and a sex attack on a teenage girl in Auckland, while a South Island businessman has put up a $50,000 bounty for information leading to the fugitives' arrest.

The businessman, Mike Jacomb of Picton, said the last information he had received was that the couple were in Northland looking for a boat to flee the country. Mr Bennett is said to be a competent sailor and has an Australian passport.

Mr Jacomb's belief the pair were trying to flee by sea coincides with the unusual theft of a 14-metre yacht, Harlech, from its mooring at Opua last week.

Its devastated owners, Whangarei retirees Steve and Carol Holland, said it could only have been taken by someone who knew about boats. An opportunist thief would not know how to start the engine.

They fear it is already in international waters. If it was still in New Zealand someone would have recognised its distinctive, one-off design by now.

Senior Constable Peter Comer, coastal master at the Auckland Police Marine Rescue Centre, said the link between the fugitive couple and the missing yacht was so far only speculation.

However, it was one of the possibilities police were looking into. Customs has been alerted as had authorities in likely destinations in Australia and around the Pacific.

Police had received a report of a possible sighting at Whangarei Harbour's Woolshed Bay a few days ago. He did not believe it was the missing yacht but not yet been able to rule it out.
Meanwhile, police were examining every option, Mr Comer said. "We're not saying it's left the country, it could be hiding around the coast somewhere. Unfortunately, once a boat leaves our shores undetected, it's very hard to track. The chances of recovery are very low."

He urged anyone who had seen the boat, or knew where it was, to contact their local police station.

"It's a $150,000 boat. We'd love to find it," he said.

Mr Jacomb, a director of Canterbury helicopter firm HeliPower, alleged the couple had cheated the company of $250,000. He had put up the bounty in the hope it would lead to their capture.

The Hollands had sailed Harlech to the Pacific Islands and around Northland many times, living on board for six months at a time.

The fibreglassed kauri cutter had many personal items on board, including a log book recording their Pacific voyages.

Northland Regional Council deputy harbour master Chidambaram Surendran said thefts of ocean-going yachts were unusual. An alert had been sent to harbour and coastal wardens; the country's sailing fraternity is also keeping an eye out for the missing yacht.

The last confirmed sighting of Bennett was in Nelson last June.

- additional reporting NZME.