Watson claims 'helpful'

The father of convicted double killer Scott Watson said he believes new claims by a policeman who worked on the Sounds murder inquiry will add weight to the campaign to free his son.

Michael Chappell, a detective who worked on the first six weeks of the inquiry into the New Year's Eve 1997 disappearance of friends Ben Smart and Olivia Hope in the Marlborough Sounds, said he believed Watson was innocent.

Chris Watson is still pursuing legal avenues to have his son's 1999 conviction for murdering the pair quashed. He said the police decision to concentrate their efforts on convicting his son may have meant that evidence pointing towards his innocence was ignored.