Beckenridge mystery: Witness to claim pair received help faking deaths

A coronial hearing will hear from a witness claiming John Beckenridge and his stepson Mike were helped to escape after they disappeared in Southland a decade ago.

Beckenridge and 11-year-old Mike vanished from the Catlins after he broke a court order and picked up the 11-year-old from school in March 2015.

The wreckage of his car was found at the bottom of a cliff in the Catlins but their bodies were never found.

Coroner Marcus Elliot will hear from new witnesses at a hearing in Christchurch this week after an earlier hearing in 2023 to determine if there was enough evidence that the pair were dead.

Police argued the pair died in a murder-suicide after Beckenridge drove his car off a cliff, but Mike's family believed they staged their deaths and fled overseas.

On Tuesday morning, Counsel assisting the coroner Rebekah Jordan said Oliver Watson would give evidence on Wednesday about a phone call he had with his cousin Paul Watson, who owned the land where the car went off the cliff.

The phone call was shortly after media reports that a car had gone over the cliff.

Rebekah Jordan said Oliver Watson would give evidence that during that phone call, Paul Watson said "we helped them out, and they are alive".

The hearing would also hear from Paul Watson, who denied that he helped Mike and John Beckenridge escape, she said.