Missing man’s kin suspect foul play
The family of a missing sailor accused high-profile Christchurch businessman Alasdair Cassels and convicted fraudster Mike Swann of being involved in his presumed death.
Both Cassels and Swann strongly deny the accusations – and no evidence supports the family’s claim.
William Kerry Blair, known as Kerry, and his boat Erie went missing from Cassels’ Erie Bay property in the Marlborough Sounds on March 8, 2014.
He appeared to have left the Sounds and navigated his boat around the top of the South Island, past Farewell Spit, near Golden Bay.
At some point after 4.14pm he turned off the engine and the boat drifted north to the coast off New Plymouth. The boat was found nine days later, without Blair on board.
Coroner Marcus Elliott found it was likely Blair was dead. There was no evidence of foul play, or that Blair staged his own disappearance.
The lifting of interim suppressions means it can be revealed Blair’s family believed Cassels, Swann and Jacqueline Coplestone, who was in a relationship with Blair and was the last person to see him alive, were involved in his disappearance.
Cassels employed Blair and owned the property where Blair lived. Swann, who has convictions for fraud and was known to Blair, was a friend of Cassels and visited the Erie Bay property on several occasions, one of Blair’s daughter told a Coroner’s inquest held over 2015 and 2016.
Both police and Elliott found there was no evidence of suspicious circumstances or criminal conduct being involved in Blair’s disappearance. The coroner determined criminal conduct was unlikely. Cassels, Swann and Coplestone gave helpful evidence at the inquest, Elliott said.
The trio strongly denied any involvement in Blair’s disappearance.
Cassels told police in 2014: ‘‘As far as I am concerned Kerry has gone overboard. Either on purpose or by accident, I just don’t know.’’
Elliott ruled Blair likely went overboard in an accident or took his own life, but there was insufficient evidence to establish what happened to the legal standard.
‘‘The cause and immediate circumstances of Mr Blair’s death are undetermined.’’
Despite the coroner’s finding, Dylan Blair still had questions and felt the coroner did not fully investigate the possibility of foul play.
He earlier told Stuff he did not believe his father would commit suicide, or take his boat into Cook Strait knowing it could not handle the conditions.
‘‘There is more chance dad is alive . . . It’s simply not what he would have done. Even if he’d wanted to die, he would have chosen a quicker way than that. I am a bit surprised by the findings.
‘‘I knew going into the inquiry I probably wouldn’t get the answers I want.’’
From an early point in the police investigation Blair’s children alleged he may have been the victim of criminal conduct.