Witness to claim Beckenridge 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.

The inquiry into the disappearance of Mike Zhao-Beckenridge in the Catlins a decade ago resumes today.

A coroner's hearing was adjourned in 2023 after two weeks of evidence into the case of the missing 11-year-old and his stepfather, John Beckenridge, whose car was found after it plunged 90m off a cliff near Curio Bay.

No bodies were ever found and, while the police believe it to be a murder-suicide, Mike's mother, Fiona Lu, believes her son is still alive and the presumed deaths staged.

One News reported the hearing would resume today with fresh evidence from five new witnesses.

This 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.

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.

The new information to be presented at the Coroner's Court also includes a further report from an expert who examined discharged items at the remote cliff top.

After Ms Lu and Mr Beckenridge separated, Mr Beckenridge, a Queenstown helicopter pilot, broke a court order and drove to Invercargill to pick up his stepson from school on March 13, 2015.

The boy was upset by a court order to live with his mother, and 20 emails to his stepfather were read out during the first stage of the hearing.

He said he hated his mother and "she f..... up my life so bad".

Mr Beckenridge’s final text to the boy’s mother was also read out.

"You have destroyed my life and Mike’s. Me and Mike are leaving now on the Midnight Express 3 mins to departure. Bye my love and thanks for everything JB and MB [sic]."

Ms Lu said her ex-husband, who used four aliases, was capable of faking his death and disappearing.

A New Zealand woman on holiday in Gili Air Island in Indonesia contacted police to report seeing the boy and his stepfather together three months after the car was found submerged.

She told the coroner she was "100% sure" she had seen them.

Family private investigator Mark Templeman told Coroner Marcus Elliott that Ms Lu believed her son, who would now be 21, would contact her when he was no longer under the influence of his stepfather.

— APL, additional reporting RNZ