Arthur Allan Thomas, who was granted a royal pardon in 1979 after having spent 9 years in jail wrongly convicted of the murder of Harvey and Jeanette Crewe has backed a call from Mr and Mrs Crewe’s only daughter Rochelle for the case to be reopened.
The murders, which occurred 40 years ago, remain a black mark against the police force in New Zealand. A royal commission found that detectives on the case framed Mr Thomas by burying a shell casing from his rifle in the garden at the Crewe’s farmhouse, south of Auckland.
In her statement, Rochelle Crewe was critical the decision of the Solicitor-General at the time, Paul Neazor, QC, not to lay charges against detectives Bruce Hutton and Len Johnston. The head of the 1980 commission, Justice Robert Taylor from Australia said what they had done was "an unspeakable outrage".
Police Commissioner Harvey Broad was quoted as saying "What's coming out is that there are a lot of unanswered questions about this case, and a lot of contested questions, and people are looking for answers. Whether or not it's possible to do that [reinvestigate], I'm not sure."
Police Union chief Greg O'Connor said the case had long been a black mark against the police. "When you consider that my generation of police officers have had that thrown in our faces continuously ... maybe a properly conducted inquiry wouldn't be a bad idea."
Prime Minister John Key said it was unlikely that the Government would set up an independent investigation, but he did not rule it out.
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