Double murderer Scott Watson set to appear before Parole Board today

Notorious double murderer Scott Watson will make another bid for freedom when he appears before the Parole Board again today.

The convicted killer’s sixth parole hearing is scheduled to start at 10am and will likely run for most of the day.

Watson was jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for the 1998 murders of Olivia Hope, 17, and Ben Smart, 21.

The friends disappeared after boarding a stranger’s yacht early on January 1, 1998, after marking the new year with friends at Furneaux Lodge, a century-old, boat access-only resort in Endeavour Inlet.

Their bodies have never been found.

Watson has always denied killing - or even ever meeting Hope and Smart after New Year’s celebrations in the Marlborough Sounds holiday hideaway.

He has repeatedly been denied parole since he became eligible and continues to fight to clear his name.

His last parole hearing was adjourned after questions were raised about psychological reports presented to the board.

Parole Board chairman Sir Ron Young said the findings of reports completed over the past three years differed around Watson’s risk of reoffending.

He said the reports were a “confusing array of various assessments over quite a long period of time”.

“We want to be clear in our own mind precisely what Mr Watson’s risk of reoffending is,” he said.

Scott Watson's sloop Blade moored at Furneaux Lodge. Photo / Mike Scott.

Sir Ron said a decision on whether Watson could be released could not be made without further clarity around the reports.

He suggested adjourning the hearing until a date when the various psychologists who wrote the reports could appear before the Parole Board and respond to questions about their risk assessments.

That would give the board a better understanding of Watson’s true risk.

The Herald is attending today’s hearing and will report on the proceedings and outcome.

In 2021 the board heard that Watson had made “very little progress in addressing his risk of re-offending”.

Despite that, Watson’s lawyer said he should be granted parole as he had “behaved well in prison”, had a very supportive family and a good release address, a job in the community and was agreeable to “tight electronic monitoring and other special conditions of parole that would ensure the community’s safety”.

The board was not satisfied.

“The psychological report noted that Mr Watson has limited awareness of his and others’ emotions. He has a high psychopathy score,” Sir Ron said.

The board pointed out that Watson was convicted of killing “two vulnerable young people” and there was “a possibility raised” and “references” in court judgments that the offending may have been sexually motivated.

“These were therefore very unusual and very serious criminal offences. And so, the treatment response required an equally substantial intervention,” said Sir Ron.

“To assess risk and provide rehabilitative treatment there needed to be a full understanding of the facts that gave rise to the offending, the reasons why Mr Watson offended, and an understanding of the drivers of his offending in detail.

“Once that was achieved then work could begin on the risks that arose from an understanding of the offending.

“None of that work has been undertaken.”

Sir Ron said as a result Watson remained, as the psychologist stated, “someone capable of the callous and calculated murder of two strangers without any form of risk-based rehabilitation”.

“We agree with that assessment. That assessment is at the core of our view that he remains an undue risk,” he ruled.

Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz