An extraordinary claim has been followed by an extraordinary debunking - author and journalist Ian Wishart says he has identified a mystery woman said to be murder victim Olivia Hope.
The claim emerged this year in a confidential report compiled by a group of concerned yachties who believed Scott Watson had been wrongly convicted for the murders of Hope and Ben Smart.
The report by the Maritime Research Group included a distant and grainy snap of a woman the authors claimed was Hope, 17. It was taken at Marys Bay five days after she and Smart, 21, were said to have been killed following a 1997 New Year's Eve party.
![Ben Smart and Olivia Hope. Photo / Supplied](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/NTFMZTWGU72TLUBQEHVSTCODFE.jpg?auth=5adc65366366aa36dde99646c608299aab7287e5ff9e1a419658fdba0a8f08aa&width=16&height=12&quality=70&smart=true)
The group had used the image as part of a report that had advanced the theory a drug running syndicate was behind the murders.