Coroner to deliver findings on Lachlan Jones' death

A coroner will today deliver his findings into the death of Gore pre-schooler Lachlan Jones six years after he was found dead in a council sewage pond.

An often emotionally-charged inquest into the three-year-old's death was held in Invercargill with accusations of body-dumping, fake alibis and neglect aired during witness testimonies.

The hearing followed two police investigations that found Lachlan accidentally drowned after wandering off, although his father Paul Jones disputed the findings.

Coroner Alexander Ho would deliver his findings in Invercargill on Friday in an effort to cast some light on the shadows surrounding the boy's death.

In a minute released in May, the coroner acknowledged there were significant and extensive allegations, rumours, suspicion and public concern around Lachlan's death.

He said it was in the interest of justice to narrow them down and provide certainty where possible, including vindicating the reputations of people under scrutiny if the evidence supported it.

What will Friday's hearing involve?

The coroner completed his 160-page draft findings in April but sought further submissions in May, delaying the delivery of his findings.

Friday's hearing was expected to take a full day while the coroner read his findings and discussed any suppression matters.

Media would not be allowed to publish the findings until the coroner gave the green light, which was expected once he retired at the end of the day.

What questions does the coroner hope to answer?

The coroner was considering whether a pathologist was right to conclude Lachlan died from drowning, what led to him being found in the pond - including if neglect was involved - whether the evidence supported his father's allegations and if anyone else was involved in the boy's death.

He would also consider whether further steps could be taken to yield more evidence if what was currently available was not enough to answer his questions.

He would also make any recommendations to reduce the chance of similar deaths in future.

The adequacy of police investigations was not a focus of the inquest because they were carried out after Lachlan's death but coroner Ho said he might need to consider some of the criticisms.

What witness evidence has the coroner considered?

The inquest was split in two parts, involving witness and expert evidence.

During Paul Jones' testimony last year, he described the investigations as "like a bloody botched up police job and you're trying to fix it".

"I don't know what's happened on this day. I don't know how my son got out there. I'm here to find the answers," he said.

His lawyer accused Lachlan's mother Michelle Officer and her two older sons of killing the boy and storing his body in a freezer before dumping it and devising fake alibis, as well as neglecting her son.

In court, Jones said he had never claimed Officer had killed Lachlan.

"There was [Michelle's two older sons] Cameron, Johnny there and Michelle. I want to know what happened," he said.

Officer said the accusations were untrue, rather Jones was abusive and manipulative, she loved her son and she consented to an autopsy of Lachlan's body because she had nothing to hide.

"He was my world. I just loved him so much. I just wish I was with him," she told the inquest.

"I'd rather drown myself than have any of my boys drown."

The brothers also denied the accusations, with Jonathan Scott saying he was at work that afternoon. He said Paul Jones was verbally abusive.

"I think it's disgusting because I love my little brother," Scott said.

Scott told the inquest that he briefly left the search to buy marijuana but he was not initially concerned by Lachlan's disappearance because he often hid in the house.

The pathologist who determined Lachlan died from drowning told the inquest he was reluctant to perform his autopsy because Southland was not set up to examine children and he did not routinely perform post-mortems on children.

He said he did not see any signs that the boy had been put in a freezer, found nothing suspicious and stood by his findings.

A forensic pathologist told the coroner that a forensic autopsy should have taken place but even without one, there was enough evidence to safely conclude Lachlan drowned.

The inquest also heard from a neighbour who said she heard the boy in her washroom on the night, while another resident described seeing a little person running in the direction of the ponds.

A Gore woman said a friend claimed Scott told him he threw Lachlan in the sewage pond where he was later found dead.

The friend later said there was no truth in what he had said to her and Scott denied he would joke about Lachlan's death, saying allegations against his family had been debunked.

Retired American crime scene investigator Karen Smith took aim at police officers' testimony and witness evidence, asking why police appeared to refuse to put in the effort to answer the remaining questions about his death.

The timeline:

• 28 January 2019 - Paul Jones stayed at his ex-partner Michelle Officer's home on Salford Street in Gore with their son Lachlan Jones. According to later testimony, this was the last time he saw his son alive. He said Lachlan had been "agitated and anxious" in recent months.
• 29 January  2019 - Officer made Jones eggs for breakfast before he said good-bye and went to work. At 9.30pm Lachlan was reported missing from home. Witnesses later told investigators or the coroner they saw Lachlan, or someone potentially fitting his description, running towards the sewage ponds. Police, LandSAR, neighbours and volunteers began searching. During the search, Lachlan's half-brother Jonathan Scott was picked up by a friend to buy marijuana.
• At 11.15pm a police dog and its handler found Lachlan face up in an oxidation pond] on the outskirts of town, 1.2 km from his home. The police dog only picked up Lachlan's scent about 40m from where he was found.
• 30 January 2019 - Police issued a media release, advising there had been a sudden death in Gore overnight. It said "despite the best efforts of the search team the child was unable to be resuscitated".
• 31 January 2019 - Police publicly named the dead boy as Lachlan Jones, 3, and announced the death had been referred to the coroner. An autopsy was carried out. A general pathologist concluded the cause of death was drowning. Jones later challenged this, saying it was a "bloody botched up police job".
• 23 October 2020 - Southern police acknowledged "missed steps" in the initial investigation and began a formal review.
• 7 November 2020 - Police completed the investigation file review, saying it had led to further inquiries.
• 16 December 2020 - Another investigation concluded there was insufficient evidence for criminal charges, reaffirming the accidental drowning finding. Jones continued to dispute the finding, maintaining Lachlan had not drowned.
• 30 August 2023 - Coroner Alexander Ho directed an inquest into Lachlan's death. He would consider if a pathologist was correct to determine the boy died from drowning, what led to him being found in the pond and if anyone else was involved in his death.
• 29 April 2024 - The inquest's first phase began in Invercargill. The coroner heard evidence from eyewitnesses, police officers and the boy's family. Jones' lawyer Max Simpkins put allegations of foul play and neglect to the witnesses, raising the possibility that Lachlan's mother and half-brothers killed Lachlan, stored his body in the freezer and dumped it in an oxidation pond. Officer denied the accusations, calling them "ludicrous" and saying she loved her son.
• Lachlan Jones' grandfather Graham Jones claimed the three-year-old's mother told him she would not leave anything for Lachlan in her will if she died.
• The pathologist who determined Lachlan died from drowning said he did not routinely perform autopsies on children, but stood by his conclusion and saw no evidence that his body had been stored in a freezer.
• The inquest's first phase finished in May. At its conclusion, the coroner directed police to further investigate specific details about the scene.
• 2 August 2024 - Newsroom reported anonymous Facebook messages between two people - a woman and someone she knew in Gore - suggesting someone had "thrown that boy in the pond". The woman reportedly planned to share the evidence with the police.
• 5 August 2024 - The second expert phase of the inquest began. A forensic pathologist, mortuary technician and paediatrician were among those to give evidence. A retired US detective claimed Lachlan was put in the pond and the scene was staged to look like an accident. A forensic expert discussed how Lachlan's lungs were not waterlogged, raising the possibility of "dry drowning" or another cause.
• 26 May 2025 - Coroner Ho announced his findings, due to be released this week, would be delayed. He said the 160-page provisional findings were finished and he gave interested parties about a month to respond. Ho said Lachlan's half-brother Jonathan Scott had appointed a new lawyer within days of the submission deadline.
• 13 June 2025 - Coroner Ho will deliver his findings in person in Invercargill.

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