‘It’s nothing to do with us’: Officials ignored warnings over Alan Hall case
A new report outlines how evidence of Alan Hall’s wrongful conviction was known to Crown lawyers and police for years, but officials did nothing.
Hall was convicted of murdering Arthur Easton in 1985, and spent more than 19 years in prison. He was finally acquitted by the Supreme Court last year.
In the wake of this, the Solicitor-General ordered an investigationinto the Crown’s role in Hall’s case.
The review, by Wellington lawyer Nicolette Levy, KC, was completed in November, but a heavily redacted version was only been released on Friday.
It details how Crown Law, which oversees all prosecutions in New Zealand and handles appeals, was sent detailed information by former Newshub journalist Mike Wesley-Smith in 2018, and again in 2020. The information showed crucial witness evidence had been deliberately altered and withheld by police and the prosecution during Hall’s trial and appeal.
The report is so much worse than we feared.
They fucking knew they had framed an innocent man and no one in the system lifted a finger!
It is an obscenity that just become an abomination.
Anyone reading the Alan Hall case would be shocked at the blatant attempt to frame him for the crime.
You honestly get the perception after reading the reports that the cops simply rounded up the most vulnerable person near the crime and bullied him into answers that were used to frame him while withholding evidence that proved he didn’t do it.
They fucking knew Alan couldn’t have committed the crime, but the simply framed him anyway because their interrogation techniques are manipulative and have little to do with catching the actual criminal and more to do with simply finding a prosecution.
With the recent litany of miscarriage of justice cases, seeing the inside of a corrupted police interrogation process happening in real time now suggests the Police have learned NOTHING from the mistakes and failures of the past, which is what we have been promised every time one of these miscarriages of justice get exposed.
Look at how the NZ Police bullied false confessions out of people in the Lois Tolley murder case…
Police are refusing to release a review of the controversial investigation into the murder of Upper Hutt woman Lois Tolley, sparking accusations that they are covering up serious misconduct.
Tolley, 30, was shot point-blank in her home in December 2016, in what police described at the time as “an execution-type killing”.
After an extensive investigation, named Operation Archer, three men were eventually charged in 2019 with her murder.
But the charges against all three men, who have name suppression, were dropped by police last year, before the case went to trial, with a judge commenting: “There is presently really no evidence against any of them.”
…It is unacceptable in the extreme for the Police to not release this investigation into what went wrong with this case!
To have gotten prosecution this far advanced without any actual evidence because the police interrogation technique was so corrupted is gasp inducing in its conclusions…
This followed revelations that one of the accused had falsely confessed to the murder, after police used a contentious interviewing technique, the Complex Investigation Phased Engagement Model (CIPEM).
…the whole case became so tainted with the inclusion of jail house narks and unreliable witnesses that there had to be an investigation into how badly Police screwed up…
High Court Justice Simon France said the man, known as X, had been manipulated by the detectives interviewing him, who had broken numerous fundamental rules of interviewing, and X’s “confession” was flawed and not credible.
The case against the other two men collapsed for separate reasons, largely related to the unreliability of key witnesses – including a woman twice charged with perverting the course of justice, and jailhouse informants with numerous convictions for dishonesty, who told conflicting stories.
In a rare move, police subsequently appointed Auckland King’s Counsel and former Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins to undertake “an independent review of aspects of the police inquiry”.
…the corruption of credible evidence and process was so extreme that there had to be an independent investigation into how the fuck it got this far.
Turns out we won’t be allowed to know because the Police are now refusing to release the report…
However, police refused to release the terms of reference for Perkins’ review, making it unclear which parts of the failed investigation were being looked at and whether he was considering why the case collapsed against all three defendants, or just X.
Perkins’ review was completed in August.
But police are now refusing to release the report, or even a summary of its findings, saying it is “confidential and legally privileged”.
…unbelievable!
Yet it manages to get worse!
The defence lawyers of the men falsely set up using jailhouse snitch ‘evidence’ and this weird Complex Investigation Phased Engagement Model (CIPEM) have all complained about tactics used by Police that are absolutely outside the law, like with holding evidence that proves their client innocent!
Wintour said that during the investigation, police deliberately hid material from him until the last minute that suggested his client wasn’t involved in the murder.
Yet it manages to get worse!
The refusal to release the report follows continued efforts by police to withhold material relating to the Lois Tolley investigation and the CIPEM interviewing method.
Stuff has twice been forced to get court judgments in order to obtain access to relevant documents.
It also comes after the retirement of the country’s top investigatorand architect of CIPEM, Detective Superintendent Tom Fitzgerald, earlier this month.
Fitzgerald was closely involved with the interviews of X, but he insisted CIPEM wasn’t to blame for mistakes made by the interviewing detectives and said his retirement had nothing to do with scrutiny of the technique.
So the model being used allows Detectives to lie, bully and manipulate false confessions and the Detective Superintendent who created this model used in the Lois Tolley case, originally claimed the Detectives misused the model and it had nothing to do with him, when it turns out that wasn’t true and that he was actually monitoring the interview from a seperate room and was advising during the interview.
Yet it manages to get worse!
Detective Superintendent Tom Fitzgerald also was responsible for that other great questionable miscarriage of justice case, the murder of Olivia Hope and Ben Smart.
Based on what we currently have in front of us with this case and the recent miscarriages of justice cases of Peter Ellis, Teina Pora, David Lyttle, Mauha Fawcett and Alan Hall you get a terrible feeling that Police are not following the evidence in case, but are merely rounding up the most vulnerable suspects and bullying confessions out of them or twisting the evidence to fit the crime.
What is happening here is a can of very sick and toxic worms are being ripped open while the media’s attention is on the petty and vacant.
What is being exposed here is a rotten process that reeks of corruption. I once thought that maybe as much as 5% of the prison population might be innocent, after looking at what has been starkly revealed in this police interrogation process, I think that number might be closer to 30% of the prison population being innocent.
What has been revelled here calls into question fundamental values of justice and Policing in a. democracy. The total lack of wider attention this case and the questions it raises must be addressed.
Of course, in all of this is the whanau of Lois Tolley, whose murder has not been solved and whose family can not rest.
Lois Tolley and her family deserved far better than this debacle.
Our justice system demands higher levels of professionalism than this shambles.
And our Police force should be ashamed.
With Detective Superintendent Tom Fitzgerald suddenly quitting last year from his role with Police, I think an urgent independent review of his previous cases is required and the media should be calling for it.
Allan Hall may be but the beginning of something far, far, far, larger.
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Ever since the miraculous appearance of the famed Arthur Allan Thomas Cartridge Case, the New ZealandPolice have painted themselves into a corner around questionable investigations, questionable evidence, and questionable prosecutions.
How we work in the Shadows.
….the Solicitor-General ordered an investigation into the Crown’s role in Hall’s case.
The review, by Wellington lawyer Nicolette Levy, KC, was completed in November, but a heavily redacted version was only been released on Friday.
[the] Perkins’ review was completed in August.
But police are now refusing to release the report, or even a summary of its findings, saying it is “confidential and legally privileged”…..
….The refusal to release the report follows continued efforts by police to withhold material relating to the Lois Tolley investigation…..
“What has been revelled here calls into question fundamental values of justice and Policing in a. democracy.” Martyn Bradbury
The sterilizing effect of daylight. (out of the shadows)
Democracy cannot does not work in darkness and secrecy.
For democracy to work, transparency is required.
If the police are allowed to hide their misdeeds behind a veil of secrecy these abuses will continue.
A Police Force that is a law unto itself is an absolute threat to our democracy.
Martyn – NZ needs a special, independent, Police Unit to investigate the Police…it is well over due
Agreed
100%
As Officers of the Court, it is everything to do with the Crown. Ignoring knowledge of false or hidden evidence is at the least contempt or more likely when it involves others Conspiring to Defeat the Course of Justice. Both the Watson and Lundy cases now sit on top, not under, a pile of similar events described here with the Watson case having “benefitted” from the full range of all Fitzgerald’s work and are very transparent such as much of been his knowledge that if there were any problems the Crown would say “it’s not our problem.”
Once the process of the deceit is understood it is quite easy to uncover and usually, it reflects right through the case.
Nothing will happen to the Police or lawyers involved, and no-one will be found at fault for whatever has happened.
Sadly, I believe you are right.
Finding someone at fault would set a precedent of accountability, and nothing unites the core public sector employees like their abhorrence of being held accountable for their decisions and (in)actions.
Yes I agree with your comments Ada and they absolutely appall me. Just like Lake Alice, seriously only one person has been charged over that… there will be more still alive.
It is all disgusting.
And what is it that stops the the parole board head from telling everyone what their concerns are over Lundy – this man is going to say he murdered them before they will let him out. So whose was the hair in her hand at the time of the murder and do the police still have this evidence or has it conveniently been discarded.
Crown Law should not be allowed to investigate Crown Law and Police to investigate police. The only way through this is a specialised, non political, well funded unit that sits apart from both, is answerable only to the courts and whose role is to review cases. The police have become a more politicised entity that runs its own interference and PR. Of course this will be drowned out by the police association creating more noise and demanding that ordinary police officers carry guns at all time (they have an americanised view of policing), the police minister focusing on woke police agendas and National won’t help by shouting about ram-raiding when this is a political easy target for them.
Couldn’t agree more no organisations should be allowed to investigate itself if it is funded by we the public.
Cahill wants Police armed & citizens disarmed, and he certainly isn’t afraid to lie to push this agenda.
“Crown Law should not be allowed to investigate Crown Law and Police to investigate police.”
That’s it. And when the the shit really hits the fan the Minister or SG reach for a retired Judge or pet QC stooge to find a path out of it.
For example, disgraced former judge Robert Fisher was a reliable “go to” for years in doubling down on the Haig, Bain and other fiascos.
It’s Common Sense the Police should not be auditing the Police and Crown Law should not be auditing Crown Law. It’s not Rocket Science.
MFNz I think that something must be done. There has been dissatisfaction with police unwillingness to be questioned or brought to account. And their unsatisfactory behaviour is compounding. It does appear that American policing is a role model. I think it is also for Oz police and ours work in with them. This authoritarian and effectively lawless behaviour bodes
badly for our ability to come together and rise above our points of disagreement so we can plan for our future.
We have a government that is constipated, and administrative officers that are directed towards 105% compliance with any requirements set, and cannot attend to the most useful and simple actions that could lessen our burden in maintaining concord, such as decriminalising cannabis for instance. Things that help we humans can’t be done. Things that keep us in order are the order of the day! But does that help us prepare for keeping what is left of our civil society. And will that civility have a ‘social conscience’ which seems to be lacking in favour of a pragmatic, materialistic, mechanised, cyberocracy.
The police behaviour is affected by this; they could change and humanise their ways if they made a determined attempt to stand by old codes of conduct with the emphasis on practicality and minimum pain and damage to defuse and control the situation. So take tasers away – replace with something else to give the police facing uncertainty some lesser weapon. People become brutalised in our present situation as we have seen in USA from the George Floyd traumatic event and the hard-faced police officer’s response. We must remember that human brains can rationalise brutality and excuse it. We should not give our brains such fodder.
Agree
And these are the big crimes. Have a thought too for all the little crimes that our people get convicted of, who are also innocent. NZ Police is a fascist gang of thugs.
the administrative class protects itself, just like the irish ‘pub bombers’ in the uk, the law must not be called into disripute at any cost
Having the Crown as the Head of State and the Authoritative Body is the problem. The Government is the Law by the veto of Parliament being the House of Representatives.
Change the system.
Oh that easy is it. We should do it then, just get the better system. It may seem to many like the Taliban smashing the old deities set in the walls I think. And who is going to be Head of State? Someone that you picked? It seems that you have a sharp eye for appropriate targets, but so have the Palestinians. David was a little guy and had great skill with a stone and sling, but the mechanisms of power now are complex.
I prefer King Charles 3 before other luminaries here seen politically. He has power, and yet hasn’t, but has attempted to be himself through the sticky morass of required behaviour and maintenance of role, and been restrained and determined for good outcomes. Quite a role model I think. We haven’t anyone to match him with so many here being superficial, acquisitive, indulgent, social climbers with scant morals.
What future would such people give us, and could Maori find a way to hold onto their practical minds, good traditional concepts and do what is needed for all, resisting wealth attractions and partiality? Perhaps Dennis Potter’s tv series Cold Lazarus and Karaoke show us the state
humanity might be in, divorced from nature and our human interactive functioning communities.
Cold Lazarus, is set 400 years in the future, where Feeld’s cryogenically preserved head is used for historical and social research purposes until an American media tycoon realizes the astronomical ratings potential of a TV show where the ‘real’ twentieth century history of Daniel Feeld’s life, via his chemically induced memories, can be fed to millions of viewers. Whilst Daniel’s ‘memories’ ebb and flow and the TV moguls fight over him, a dissident organization of Luddites, R.O.N. (Reality or Nothing), seeks to return to what they believe to have been a gentler age – the twentieth century. https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571174782-karaoke-cold-lazarus/
100% Martyn
How many cases like this do we need to see before the public loses trust in the justice system? Thomas, Ellis, Doherty, Hall to name but a few. How many more are locked up that we’ve never heard of?
It’s one thing to have a person convicted in error – no system is perfect, but it’s another story altogether to knowingly let a man rot in a cell when his defence is denied exculpatory evidence. If you think our situation is unique, watch this movie:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Name_of_the_Father_(film)
It’s high time some of these ‘top cops’ and crown lawyers faced their own court cases. If the current law doesn’t allow that, then it needs fixing.
Well done @ Martyn Bradbury and TDB for bringing this out into the Light of debate.
Although this is particularly egregious because it involves the police and justice system (Which we all know needs a real review and overhaul as the events of the last 20 years have played out and continue to play out), you have touched upon something that seems to be occurring all over the public service.
Being Beltway ‘adjacent’ there are various stories floating around in the business community and to an extent on social media where a Govt Dept effs something up and the ‘victim’ or interested party asks (or demands) that they put it right. Apparently the go to behaviour in these cases is to not respond and to quietly hope that it will all go away. The complainant may have a clear legal right to redress but the agency pulls down the shutter and stops engaging.
This behaviour also seems to be mirrored in the OIAs that seem to be knocked back or increasingly ignored. Particularly the ones that look to expose something get frozen out at every turn.
I dont know if this is human behaviour by incompetent people but it certainly looks like obfuscation and non accountability is the name of the game across the board. And that says to me that it is likely an intentional and political decision from higher up.
We dont want bad publicity or anything getting out before the election so for goodness sake, sit on everything? Perhaps.
I have said before that humans are devious – we should know our traits and make allowances when planning something for good outcomes. Deviousness in a person is I think essential – if only knowing it exists and how to spot it. It starts at toddler level! ‘Have you been eating the biscuits, the parent questions. Innocent or furtive eyes look up ‘No’. Then what are those crumbs around your mouth?’
@Fantail I dont know if this is human behaviour by incompetent people… I think we can say that this is a regular human behaviour by competent people of the type and training.