Olivia still alive, claimed man

Olivia Hope. Photo / Supplied.

A 53-year-old Blenheim man has been charged with criminal harassment after distributing flyers claiming Olivia Hope, who disappeared in 1998, is still alive.

Police said the man was arrested on Friday and is scheduled to appear in the Blenheim District Court tomorrow.

The flyers, delivered to letterboxes in Blenheim in the past two weeks, showed a photo of a Blenheim woman and claimed she was Hope.

Ben Smart, 21, and Hope, 17, went missing in the Marlborough Sounds on January 1, 1998. Scott Watson was found guilty of killing the pair.