Beckenridge was ‘living off his credit card’

A detective has told a coroner’s hearing that John Beckenridge was in a dire financial position at the time he went missing with his 11-year-old stepson, Mike.

The 64-year-old and the boy disappeared in March 2015, and the hearing is to work out if they are missing or dead.

Detective Jeremy Dix told the court that Beckenridge was desperately short of money in early March 2015. ‘‘He had no money to access and appeared to be living off his credit card.’’

Dix said Beckenridge’s financial situation was rocky over the years, but in the few months before his disappearance he withdrew money at an abnormally high rate. He used his eftpos card for the last time a week before he went missing. He withdrew $900, and was then declined trying to take out $1000.

Dix had spoken to Beckenridge’s banker. ‘‘He advised that John Beckenridge recently requested a $30,000 loan from BNZ, but that was rejected.’’

He had asked for the loan to fight for custody of Mike.

The pair went missing on March 13, 2015, when Beckenridge broke a court order and picked up Mike from school. His car was later found in the sea at the bottom of a cliff in the Catlins.

Mike’s family believed they were alive and living overseas. In a statement read out by coroner Marcus Elliot, Mike’s mother, Fiona Lu, said she believed Beckenridge had stashed money.

‘‘I believe John had some cash from his Trade Me sales as well as an overseas account.’’

The family’s private investigator, Mark Templeman, said Mike’s family believed the pair escaped on an ocean-going yacht.

In the hearing, Templeman questioned Dix about whether a person could leave the country on a yacht undetected. Dix said reporting a yacht’s departure was based on the person contacting customs themselves.

The hearing in Christchurch continues.