Police will not investigate how footage taken inside Pike River Mine was leaked to media and family members of some of the victims of the disaster, they say.
The footage shows a robot and two mine safety workers inside the Pike River Mine, about three months after the deadly 2010 disaster. Photo: Supplied
The footage, broadcast by Newshub on Sunday and also obtained by RNZ, shows a robot and two workers inside the mine's access tunnel, about three months after the 2010 explosion.
A spokesperson for families of some of the 29 men who died in the mine, Bernie Monk, said neither they nor their lawyers had seen the footage until it was leaked.
But police said it was part of a video several hours long, excerpts from which were played at two family meetings in 2011.
They said they were working to provide the families with all the footage, photographs and other material relating to the mine, in response to an Official Information Act request.
Prime Minister Bill English has said the government is committed to an unmanned re-entry into the mine, but has ruled out manned entry.
Richard Raymond QC, who acted on behalf of the families six years ago, said all robotic video footage was offered at the time to be shown to the families by the police.
However, he said the families were advised that the footage did not show anything new that had not already been shown in selected extracts.
Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Clement previously said police had not sought to withhold anything they believed would be of interest to the families.
Mr English said yesterday police had told him families had been shown excerpts of the footage so they would not be caught off guard when the information was provided to the inquiry.
He also said all of the footage had been provided to the Pike River Royal Commission.
