Before dawn break, on New Year's Day, 1998, 21-year-old Ben Smart and 17-year-old Olivia Hope were looking for a place to crash after spending the evening celebrating with other partygoers in the Marlborough Sounds, in New Zealand. They were last seen getting out of a water taxi and boarding a yacht after a strange man offered them a place to sleep off the champagne on board his boat. Not the greatest of decisions, but they needed a place to sleep because other partygoers had taken the place they had originally booked. They would never be seen again - and their bodies and belongings have never been found. 

What followed was a five-month-long investigation into Scott Watson, who the police believed was the strange man who had offered up his yacht. However, the investigation was rife with accusations of prejudice and police incompetence, while Scott Watson maintained his innocence. This was a case based solely on circumstantial evidence and statements given by jailhouse informants - highly controversial particularly in a high-profile double-murder case like this one. 

Yet it was enough to convict Scott and sentence him to life behind bars, which he has spent the last 26 years fighting. 

So dim the lights, put your phone down and listen to the story of Scott Watson, who believes the case against him was a mistrial of justice and just finished his last bid for freedom, full of shocking accusations against the people who are supposed to protect us. 

Sources:

https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/ben-and-olivia-search-for-truth-2002 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/519697/decision-on-scott-watson-appeal-could-take-months-judge

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/419995/ben-smart-olivia-hope-and-scott-watson-a-timeline 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/485010/hope-smart-murders-sounds-witness-guy-wallace-s-death-was-self-inflicted-coroner-rules

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/paul-henry-on-the-ben-smart-olivia-hope-murder-case-scott-watson-and-my-fears-for-justice-our-collective-shame/MNXARCQ6ZJCCRGXMD6EVCJYRUM/

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/claim-mystery-ketch-identified

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