Lachlan Jones probe: New team to reinvestigate toddler's death revealed
Photo:
SUPPLIED/ODT
Two North Island detectives will lead a third investigation into the death of Gore preschooler Lachlan Jones.
Coroner Alexander Ho
last month
directed police to launch a "full and fresh" investigation into the three-year-old's death in January 2019.
Earlier police investigations concluded Lachlan accidentally drowned in a council sewage pond near his home in Gore, but Ho found missed steps, unanswered questions and shortcomings in how the case was handled.
On Wednesday, Waikato Detective Inspector Darrell Harpur was named as the senior investigating officer leading the case. Detective Superintendent Ross McKay would oversee it.
Police said they were still finalising the terms of reference.
Ho's findings followed a five-week inquest in which initial police inquiries were strongly criticised.
He said officers had failed to treat the death as unexplained or suspicious, had relied heavily on untested witness accounts and showed confusion over who was leading the case.
Ho said it remained unclear how Lachlan entered the pond where he was found, 1.2km from his home, or what caused his death.
"It would be remiss to overlook the fact that Lachie was able to come to harm because he was not being adequately supervised, or to overlook how the conduct of the subsequent police and medical investigations into this death have compromised my ability to make findings about how a vulnerable three-year-old child came to die," he said.
Ho said his preference would be for the reinvestigation to be handled by an experienced officer from outside Southland District.
Coroner Alexander Ho.
Photo:
Stuff / Kavinda Herath
"It would be beneficial for a fresh lens to be applied to the investigation and any conflicts of interest minimised… it is to be a full and fresh investigation."
He directed police to report back by 16 January 2026, with the findings to be provided to the Independent Police Conduct Authority and the New Zealand Medical Council.
The inquiry would remain open until he received the report, he said.
Lachlan's father Paul Jones, who had always
disputed the police findings
, told reporters last month he was rapt the case would be reinvestigated because there "should have been a homicide investigation from day one".
Ho rejected accusations Lachlan's mother and half-brothers were involved in his death, calling those claims "implausible" and unsupported by evidence.
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