John Beckenridge sent a raft of “concerning and aggressive” messages to his “closest friend” leading up to his disappearance, even hinting at leaving on a Russian submarine.<\/p>\n
“I thought he was going to do something irrational, hurt somebody maybe,” the friend told the court.<\/p>\n
Swedish-born helicopter pilot Beckenridge broke a court order by collecting his 11-year-old stepson Mike Zhao-Beckenridge from his Invercargill school on 13 March, 2015.<\/p>\n
A week later, Beckenridge’s 4WD Volkswagen Touareg went off the cliff near Curio Bay, in Southland. But when police recovered the vehicle there were no signs of any bodies and the two have been missing since.<\/p>\n
However, Mike’s mother Fiona Lu is convinced her son is alive and that her former partner, Beckenridge, staged the pair’s death after she moved Mike from Beckenridge’s Queenstown home to Invercargill with her new partner, Peter Russell.<\/p>\n
Now, Coroner Marcus Elliot is looking into the case at the Christchurch District Court to consider whether it is likely the pair are dead.<\/p>\n
On Thursday evening, the court heard from Beckenridge’s closest friend who shared a “strong bond” and a great deal of trust with the missing man.<\/p>\n
The friend said he noticed Beckenridge’s mental state deteriorating after Mike was placed into his mother’s care.<\/p>\n
“John was quite upset, I could feel it when I was talking to him. He was sort of depressed and didn’t know what he was going to do,” the man said.<\/p>\n
In a letter, Beckenridge said: “Just trying to survive the holocaust … life is not funny and certainly no good anymore!”<\/p>\n
The man said while Beckenridge could be stubborn, he “had a heart of gold” so it was out of character when he became “hateful and aggressive” toward Lu in the messages he sent.<\/p>\n
Lisa Preston KC, assisting the coroner, questioned a sentence in the letter Beckenridge had written to his friend about him and Mike getting on a Russian submarine<\/p>\n
However, his friend brushed this off as a joke Beckenridge would make when he wanted to get away from people. He said Beckenridge never spoke to him about a potential escape.<\/p>\n
As days went on the friend became more concerned for Beckenridge, and worried he “might do something stupid” as his frustration towards the legal system escalated.<\/p>\n
“I thought he was going to do something irrational, hurt somebody maybe.”<\/p>\n