Runabout lead in Sounds murder

A Wellington couple claim they may have seen Ben Smart and Olivia Hope on a small boat five days after the Blenheim friends vanished in the Marlborough Sounds on New Year's Day, 1998.

John and Karen Futter said they had seen a runabout carrying five people on January 5 near Tawa Bay.

"The boat came past us with five people on board, two down the back didn't look particularly happy," Mr Futter told TVNZ's Close Up programme last night.

"We did what all boaties do - we waved - and there was zero response even though they were looking at us."

The young man and woman at the back of the boat, aged in their late teens or early 20s, appeared to have their hands forced behind their backs as if they were tied, he said.

About 45 minutes later the Futters saw the runabout coming out of the uninhabited bay without the young couple.

"There's a horrible suspicion in the back of my mind that something untoward may have happened to those two people on that boat."

The Futters had contacted police that day to report spotting a ketch which looked like one police were hunting. But police did not speak to them until two months later, he said.

"They were not interested because it was too far away from the scope of their inquiry. I pointed out it was five hours from Furneaux Lodge [at Endeavour Inlet where the pair were last seen]."

Police head of inquiry Rob Pope told Close Up he would not relitigate issues through the media, but the Futters could make a formal police request.

The Futters' police statement never included information about a runabout or who was in it, he said.

Scott Watson, 34, is serving at least 17 years jail for killing Mr Smart, 21, and Ms Hope, 17.

Mr Futter later said he and his wife signed a second statement yesterday after speaking with police.

The couple had contacted police on January 5, 1998 to report seeing a ketch but did not call again after seeing the runabout later that day, he said.

- NZPA