Detective gives method of inquiry

One of the top detectives from the Marlborough Sounds double murder case 21 years ago has revealed how police are likely to go about the cold-case investigation into the disappearance of 9-yearold Peter Boland.

Retired detective John Rae was second in command of Operation Tam, probing the disappearance of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope on New Year’s Day 1998. It resulted in the murder conviction of Scott Watson, although bodies were never found.

“You would basically go right back to the start,” said the former detective-sergeant, who retired in 2014.

Rae laid out for the Herald how the police would likely go about that difficult task.

“You would speak to the people that were there if you can, review the site of wherever he went missing and review . . . any scene examinations, opinions produced, any witnesses that might have seen the boy last, or may have first noticed him missing, anything suspicious that’s come to light since then.

“It would be a case of tracking all that down, which I don’t think would be very easily done, given that those records would all be hard copy; there would be no electronic records or anything back then, and it would depend how serious the case was back then.”

Rae said a team would look at the background of Peter, his family and people at the farm when he was last seen.

“Any similar crimes committed in that area at the time — you would be reviewing those if at all possible too,” he said. “Obviously if you have got exhibits — clothing or whatever else you could get DNA off — there’s a lot of historic stuff . . . to go through.”