Lachlan Jones: Coroner directs police to launch fresh investigation into death of Gore preschooler

• A coroner wants police to launch a fresh investigation into the death of Gore preschooler Lachlan Jones
• The three-year-old was found in a council sewage oxidation pond in January 2019
• The coroner found Lachlan ran to the sewage ponds on the night he died but could not establish how he got into the water or his cause of death
• The coroner shut down accusations Lachlan was killed, frozen and dumped in the pond by his mother and half-brothers
• He did not rule out the possibility of foul play, saying police made no attempt to exclude someone else's involvement in his death

A coroner has directed police to launch a fresh investigation into the death of Gore preschooler Lachlan Jones, describing much of what happened as a "shambles".

Coroner Alexander Ho also shut down "implausible" accusations the three-year-old was killed, frozen and dumped by his mother and half-brothers in 2019, saying she did not harm her child.

Two police investigations concluded Lachlan accidentally drowned in a council oxidation sewage pond a little over a kilometre from his home, although his father Paul Jones disputed the findings.

In delivering his findings to a packed courtroom in Invercargill, coroner Ho found the boy ran down the street to the sewage ponds on the night he died but he could not establish how the boy got into the water or his cause of death.

He directed police to reinvestigate Lachlan's death because of a multitude of unanswered questions, including whether it was "a calamitous confluence of chance".

"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.

"Bluntly, it is difficult to escape the lingering impression that much of what occurred was a shambles which could, and should, have been avoided."

Lachlan Jones' father Paul Jones, family members and friends were in the public gallery to hear the coroner's findings, many of whom wore hoodies emblazoned with #Justice4Lachie, angel wings or large rainbow lollipops.

Coroner Ho said it was "inherently improbable" that Lachlan's mother was complicit in killing her child before she ordered pizza that night, nor any evidence that Lachlan's body was placed in a freezer.

"I accept that a morally moribund mother who accidentally killed her child in a momentary fit of violent exasperation might well panic and try to cover it up, but I do not think a natural reaction would be for her to pick up the phone and order a pizza with extra aioli," he said.

Coroner Ho found police almost immediately formed a view that Lachlan's drowning was accidental and never treated his death as unexplained or suspicious, instead relying on an untested account from his mother and on eyewitness sightings.

He told the court he could not rule out the possibility of foul play as a result of police failings, including confusion over who was in charge and neglecting to seek expert input from criminal investigators.

"There were frankly astonishing scenes at inquest of two senior police officers each disclaiming responsibility for leading the investigation," he said.

Coroner Ho said it was concerning that police had not considered foul play given there was a two-hour window between a sighting near a road corner and when he was found in the pond.

"That is ample time for harm to befall: a push into the pond or a deliberate holding underwater of him would take only seconds," the coroner said.

Investigation flaws

Police acknowledged "missed steps" in their first investigation, triggering a formal review, while a second concluded there was not enough evidence to lay criminal charges.

Coroner Ho identified "shortcomings" in the investigations.

"There was confusion about the identity of the officer in charge in the first investigation. It did not bode well for the quality of the investigation that no one could tell me who was actually in control," he said.

He found some eyewitnesses' statements were not taken promptly, others were recorded as saying things about areas they had no first-had knowledge about, police did not seek expert criminal investigation advice from CIB and the police report for the coroner contained factual errors.

He did not accept the police investigation correctly detailed what happened that night and found many instances where the evidence did not support what the police presented fact.

Coroner Ho directed police to launch a further investigation into Lachlan's death and 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 fact that I am directing a re-investigation should not be taken as implicating any individual as complicit in or responsible for Lachie's death," he said.

"I emphasise that the reinvestigation I am directing should include not only those incomplete issues which I have identified in these findings but also any other matter which police would normally examine during their usual investigative process. It is to be a full and fresh investigation."

Accident or something sinister?

Coroner Ho had hoped to answer the question of how the boy came to be floating in a sewage pond more than a kilometre from his home late on a hot summer's night.

Lachlan's father Paul Jones and others never accepted that he would run such a long distance in a soiled nappy, barefoot down a gravel road and scale a wooden fence so late in the day.

Instead, they believed others were involved in his death.

During the inquest Jones' lawyer Max Simpkins accused Lachlan's mother and her two older sons of killing the boy and storing his body in a freezer before dumping it to try and cover up his death.

Coroner Ho said there was enough evidence about her movements - including scanning into the depot where she worked - and her conduct - exchanging innocuous text messages with her son about the weather and playful text messages with Jones - that suggested it was unlikely he died during that time.

There was no evidence to support the accusation that his body was ever placed in a freezer, he said.

"Michelle Officer did not cause Lachie direct harm in a manner materially contributory to death after Lachie turned down Grasslands Road," he said.

"It is not otherwise possible to find whether there was third party involvement in Lachie's death."

The early death theory was not plausible because he found that Lachlan was alive and running down Salford Street that night, the coroner said.

He detailed many witness accounts of a small child wearing a high-vis vest and emergency services hat.

"The child who the six eyewitnesses saw running down Salford Street and turning the corner on to Grasslands Road was Lachie," he said.

Coroner Ho was not convinced that he had heard the entire truth about what happened that night and did not rule out the possibility of third-party involvement.

"On the evidence, it is certainly possible that Lachie could have run out to the ponds by himself, entered the water and drowned, notwithstanding the apparent impediments of bare feet, a full nappy, unforgiving surfaces and the late hour," he said.

"Lachie could have entered the water, whether under his own steam or by being placed in it by someone else, at any point in the 340 metres between the top of the south pond and where he was found."

The post-mortem

The pathologist who performed Lachlan's autopsy told the inquest he was reluctant to do the post-mortem because Southland was not set up to autopsy children and he did not routinely perform them on children.

The coroner noted he did not raise his concerns with the duty coroner, instead saying he considered it would be a kindness to his family to have the autopsy done locally and police did not regard the death as suspicious.

The pathologist did not perform a full autopsy but maintained he found nothing suspicious and stood by his findings.

The coroner said the examination and report were "not completed to the standard which would allow me to safely rely on their contents" and he exercised "extreme caution" on relying on anything in the post-mortem report.

The conversation with the duty coroner - which there was no record of - did not absolve the pathologist's responsibility to provide appropriate medical advice, coroner Ho said.

Coroner Ho said the evidence left three possible causes of death - drowning, drowning secondary to head trauma and fatal head trauma - none of which crossed the balance of probabilities threshold so the cause of death was undetermined.

It was plausible that Lachlan could have drowned in the pond but he did not have enough evidence to make an official finding, he said.

While he understood the pathologist was no longer registered to practice medicine in New Zealand he said it was appropriate for the Medical Council to be aware of his findings to make an informed decision if the pathologist sought to practice again.

Next steps for police

Coroner Ho directed experienced police to re-investigate Lachlan's death.

"Had I the power to do so, I would require that any re-investigation be led by an experienced officer from outside Southland District," he said.

"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."

Coroner Ho strongly urged anyone who had further information about the events of 29 January 2019 to contact the police.

The inquiry would remain open until he got the report.

Inconsistent testimonies

Coroner Ho said there were inconsistencies in the testimonies of Michelle Officer and her son Jonathan Scott.

When Officer was asked about her parenting, coroner Ho said her answers "often seemed to be framed in the manner of a parenting textbook's model instruction".

She claimed her household had a consistent dinner and bedtime routine, a claim that was contradicted by Scott's testimony that dinner could happen as late as 9pm and Lachlan's bedtime could be as late as 11pm.

The coroner said there were inconsistencies in the way Officer described her relationship with Paul Jones, telling police the two were "only amicable just so he could see Lachlan" and texting a friend that the pair were "working through things to get back together".

Coroner Ho also found it was unlikely that Officer's experience with cannabis was as limited as she claimed.

"This is relevant in two ways. First, it raises the question about whether cannabis use played a part in Lachie's escape... Second, it again reflects what I consider to be Ms Officer's tendency to gloss over aspects of her character to cast herself in the mould of what she considered to be the socially constructed ideal of a viceless parent," he said.

Coroner Ho said he was cautious about accepting Scott's evidence, in part because he claimed to have been unaware of the oxidation ponds 1.2km from his house.

"I do not find it credible that Jonathan would not know the geographical landmarks proximate to the place where he lived for most of his formative years," he said.

He said Scott did not give a complete account of his movements during police investigations, later admitting he had left the search for Lachlan to purchase marijuana.

Scott also claimed his mother sat in his room and watched him lift weights on the night of Lachlan's disappearance, coroner Ho said.

"The notion that a mother would stand for anything close to five minutes and watch her 16-year-old son lie on a bench, doing no presses, while her three-year-old child remained unattended in another room, is inherently unbelievable," he said.

Lachlan's father Paul Jones said he was rapt the case would be reinvestigated.

Outside the courtroom in Invercargill, Jones told reporters the coroner had done a "wonderful" job.

"The coroner has now justified me in saying the two police investigations were a complete shambles," he said.

There should have been a homicide investigation from day one, he said.

"At no point since my son died [have they] tried to find out what happened to him."

He said he had no sense of closure, six and a half years after his son's death.

Jones called for the police commissioner to oversee the next investigation and for it to be handled by metropolitan Auckland police officers.

Police acknowledge findings

Police Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson admitted their initial investigation fell short of the high expectations police set for themselves.

Following Lachlan Jones' death, police had changed national policy to require the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) to be consulted for any death of a baby, child or young person, and attend all scenes, where possible.

"The CIB will also be required to oversee or lead any investigation into the death of an infant or child under 10."

Johnson wanted to acknowledge the impact this had had on Lachlan's family. He confirmed police were considering the findings and direction to undertake a third investigation.

"We will work diligently on all aspects we need to undertake to progress with the appropriate resources and urgency to complete this direction, as is required," he said.

"Police would also like to take this opportunity to recognise members of the public who came out on the evening Lachie was reported missing and searched for hours.

"We know that Lachie's death has also had an impact on them and the wider Gore community."

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, 1.2km 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, three, 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 delivered his findings in person in Invercargill.

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