Murderer engages in phone sex

An image sent by convicted double murderer Scott Watson through his cellphone.

Double murderer Scott Watson uses a mobile phone to send explicit photos of himself and flirtatious text messages to strangers from his prison cell.

A woman said she was stunned to receive texts from "Scott in prison" through a text-chat service.

He sent flirtatious messages and pictures of himself, including one of his penis.

He also asked the woman to send naked pictures of herself.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, said she was horrified to discover she had been talking to a murderer. "My heart stopped when he said who he was and sent me the first picture. They [prisoners] are supposed to have lost their freedom and privilege, but he is able to talk to pretty much anyone he wants with that phone."

In one message Watson, who is serving at least 17 years for killing Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, who vanished in the Marlborough Sounds on New Year's Day 1998, said: "so wat do u get up 2 out in da big world? keeping ya hot litle hands on da school boys i bet."

He wrote about bets he had placed on horse races, and his activities in prison. He also mentioned a possible parole date in 2015, and his hatred for the prison system.

"Da shocking thing bout jail is al it does is train al da yng guys 2 hate al da strate pple in da world & keeps a hole lot of people in jobs."

In another text Watson, who married Rotorua woman Coral Branch in May last year, claimed to have tied the knot more than once while behind bars.

"Iv bn married 4 times in here haha, its so ya can hav a party every1 does it," he wrote.

Watson, who has always maintained his innocence, also denied killing Olivia and Ben.

The 33-year-old is in Christchurch Prison. He transferred there last year from Auckland's maximum security Paremoremo Prison.

Paul Monk, regional manager South Island public prisons service, said Watson's cell was raided after queries from the Weekend Herald.

"The department is very concerned that Scott Watson appears to have had access to a cellphone and as a result been able to send pictures and text messages ... " he said.

No cellphone was found last night, but the prison had "recently received information" that a cellphone was hidden in the block where Watson was held and being used by several inmates.

"Cellphones can be used to organise further criminal offending, to harass people in the community such as witnesses and victims, and arrange escapes," Mr Monk said.

"Possession of a cellphone by an inmate is an offence and it is an offence to communicate with an inmate in this way."

Beven Hanlon, president of the Corrections Officers' Association, told the Herald last week that prisoners with illicit cellphones were a serious problem and the Department of Corrections had ignored pleas to install cellphone blocking technology.

Corrections is investigating whether prisoner Arthur Taylor - who escaped briefly in central Wellington - was using a mobile phone in jail before his failed escape.

Mr Monk said officers carried out searches using scanners, but it was often difficult to find cellphones, with inmates desperate to hide them.

Watson's father Chris Watson said yesterday that he was not aware his son had a cellphone.

"It's bad enough buying phone cards for him without a cellphone bill," he said.

Watson's wife would not talk to the Herald yesterday, but through her father-in-law said she had not received any text messages from her husband.

Scott Watson

* Scott Watson is serving a sentence of at least 17 years after being found guilty of murdering Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, who vanished in the Marlborough Sounds on New Year's Day 1998. Their bodies have never been found.
* In May 2004 Watson married Coral Branch, a 35-year-old mother of four from Rotorua. Watson first wrote to her in 1999, soon after he received his sentence.
* The case remains controversial. A documentary in 2003 claimed that Watson was not the killer, and the same month the Privy Council refused Watson's application to appeal against his conviction.
* In June 2004 a petition with more than 2000 signatures was handed to Parliament, calling for a commission into Watson's conviction.