Sounds murder boat for sale

By CATHERINE MASTERS and NZPA

The floating crime scene of convicted murderer Scott Watson - his boat Blade - is to be auctioned on Friday, nearly four years after the disappearance of Blenheim friends Olivia Hope and Ben Smart.

The boat's grim history will not necessarily be revealed to prospective buyers, although it is understood that it will be sold in its original condition.

At one stage, the police hoped the 8.2 m sloop could be used in a "black museum" of sometimes grisly crime exhibits, but it is being sold to contribute towards Watson's hefty legal aid bill.

Ben Smart and Olivia Hope are believed to have been lured on board Blade by Watson early on New Year's Day, 1998, in Queen Charlotte Sound, and then killed. Their bodies have not been found.

Watson's father, Chris Watson, says the sale should not go ahead until the completion of a Privy Council appeal into his son's conviction.

Legal Services Agency manager Robyn Nicholas confirmed the sale for Friday, and said it would not be affected by the Privy Council.

Olivia's father, Gerald Hope, said yesterday that the family accepted the boat was a prime exhibit, perhaps better suited for a black museum, but believed it should be sold to recover costs.

The sale was not painful, he said. "The most painful thing is we still don't know the truth about the disappearance of Ben and Olivia.

"A piece of steel shaped in the form of a sloop really has no attachment to me."

Les Rogers, of Marlborough Auctions in Blenheim, said he had not seen the boat, but believed someone would buy it.

"In an auction rooms people will buy anything ...

"It will only be advertised as a yacht, it won't be advertised as any of the other stuff that's involved with it if we get it in ... "

Chris Watson said Blade was his son's home, and the family had believed the boat would be returned.

"The thing is, the case is far from dead.

"It seems a pity that they could wrongfully convict a man like that and then strip all his assets."

He may attend the auction as an onlooker.

Picton marine broker Ted Church estimated Blade could be worth $22,000 to $25,000.