Nark told he'd be 'well looked after' in exchange for prison beating evidence, records show

Former detectives have been left "stumbling for words" by police reports of a secret meeting in 1985 between a Department of Justice official and the key Crown witness in the murder prosecution of Ross Appelgren.

Appelgren was convicted of killing fellow inmate Darcy Te Hira inside the Mt Eden Prison kitchen on 6 January 1985. Appelgren always claimed he was not in the kitchen when Te Hira was attacked

The key witness, a convicted fraudster-turned-informant, was offered the possibility of a pardon and early release just weeks before Appelgren's trial.

The RNZ podcast Nark has today reported on police records which say the government sent a Department of Justice official to "reassure the subject he would be well looked after, after he did give his evidence and that he would not be put into a prison of any kind after the trial".

Then-Justice Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer says, "if that was said, it's a very bad thing".

Former Detective Inspector Lance Burdett, who used to lead operations for the New Zealand Police witness protection programme, says he's never heard of early release being offered to a witness before they testified.

"I'm stumbling for words. That's flabbergasting…You certainly don't say, 'Hey, look, if you give the evidence, you're going to be released at the earliest opportunity'. That's fairytale stuff."

The witness, who has permanent name suppression but is known in the podcast as Ernie, claimed to have seen Ross Appelgren murder Darcy Te Hira in Mt Eden prison on January 6, 1985. Appelgren was convicted of murder twice, but both times successfully petitioned the Governor-General to send his case back to the Court of Appeal. Appelgren's last appeal has remained adjourned since 1994.

Appelgren died in 2013, and now his widow, Julie, is leading an effort to clear his name posthumously. Her lawyers hope to argue the appeal should continue in a hearing before the Court of Appeal expected next year.

When Ernie told police he'd seen the murder and police decided to make him their star witness, he demanded he be removed from Mt Eden for his own safety. Police agreed.

He was moved to New Plymouth prison, then to the Takapuna police station cells.

Ernie's complaints about his conditions and concern for his safety escalated to the point the police and the Department of Justice decided to release him from prison. In June 1985, Ernie was moved to Christchurch, a month before Appelgren was due to stand trial.

Operation Icing

Police put Ernie up in a $50 per night suburban motel, guarded by police and prison officers, as part of a programme called Operation Icing.

The icing on the cake for Ernie was that - just eight months into his two-year sentence on more than 200 fraud convictions - he was doing his time in a motel with a large bedroom, a high-end TV, a video recorder, and a CD player.

As one police report said, the motel was "in a rural setting with access to large open grass areas".

Taxpayers even paid for dinners at local restaurants and trips to Akaroa and Hanmer Springs.

Ernie went on to stay in the motel, then rental accommodation, from June 1985 to February 1987.

Operation Icing was, at the time, the most expensive witness protection programme in New Zealand history, costing more than $75,000.

In the weeks leading up to the trial, Ernie remained concerned about his future and doubted the police promises that he would not be returned to prison.

Seeking further assurance, Ernie wrote directly to the then Justice Minister, Geoffrey Palmer, in June 1985.

Police records report that Palmer dispatched an emissary, then-superintendent of Paparua prison, Charles Hood, to meet with Ernie at his motel.

Notes made by an unnamed police officer sitting in on the meeting recorded that Hood promised Ernie he would be "looked after" and said "the minister was looking favourably at a pardon after the trial and that while the minister was not in a position at the present time to guarantee anything, Mr Hood assured the subject [Ernie] that he would not simply be dumped and forgotten".

A second report a day later reads, "Superintendent Hood had offered him a pardon as regards the remainder of his prison sentence".

Further police reports show that 10 days later, on July 3, Hood returned to the motel to withdraw that offer.

The Department of Justice had decided no promises could be made until after the trial.

Ernie angrily said he'd refuse to testify.

When the officer in charge of the Appelgren investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jenkinson, heard of the Department's decision, he intervened.

Jenkinson made it clear police had no intention of returning Ernie to prison because they needed to ensure the safety of their crucial witness.

Ernie never did go back inside.

'Never seen anything like it'

Former detective Tim McKinnel, who's part of the legal team working with Julie Appelgren, said he was astounded to read the police reports describing Hood's meetings with Ernie and the fact they were never disclosed at either of Appelgren's two trials.

"It is absolutely extraordinary. I've never seen anything like it".

" I can't understand one, why you would put the department in that position and then, you know, perhaps easier to understand is why you wouldn't disclose it because of its extraordinary nature and what it might tell you about what was going on."

Sir Geoffrey Palmer told RNZ it was 40 years ago and he has no memory of the case or of Charles Hood.

"You have to understand that ministers act on advice. There are lots of officials doing work on this and they assure the minister and the minister signs things. I'm sure I gave attention to it properly at the time, but just have no recollection of it."

Sir Geoffrey, interviewed in September this year, doesn't recall any discussion of a pardon or early release, but agrees, "it's a serious matter".

"If that was said, it's a very bad thing to say. I agree with that. But I have no memory of giving such assurances or giving him [Hood] any authority to say that… all I can say is that if an injustice occurred it needs to be sorted out in the courts now."

Palmer said the juries who convicted Appelgren should have been informed about the Justice Department's involvement with Ernie.

'Quite possible there was an injustice done'

Hood died in 2021, and the police officer present at his meetings with Ernie is not identified in police documents.

While those notes are unambiguous and were written immediately after the meetings, further investigations by podcast host Mike Wesley-Smith have also uncovered an October 1986 letter from Palmer to Ernie's lawyer, Roger Chambers.

It tells a different story from those described in the police documents.

Palmer wrote: "Department of Justice officials were at no stage involved in any discussion about the future relocation and protection of Ernie, nor were any promises made to him about future reward or assistance".

Asked about the seeming contradiction, Sir Geoffrey said, "it's quite possible there was an injustice done here".

"I have to take ministerial responsibility about anything I did even back then and I do take it.

"But the difficulty is, the frailty of human recollection 40 years later when you have thousands of things as a minister to deal with, it's really very difficult for me to say anything that's very helpful to you."

RNZ also asked the Police and Crown Law, which oversees prosecutions in New Zealand, about the revelations in these notes and reports. In an email, Detective Inspector Scott Beard, Auckland City CIB, wrote: "As this process is ongoing and has not been heard by the Court, it would be premature for Police to engage in detail at this point". A Crown Law spokesperson told RNZ by email, "As with any other criminal appeal process that is before the Court, we will not be engaging with the media while it is at this stage".

Nark is being released every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on rnz.co.nz/nark and all podcast apps. It airs at 7pm Sunday on RNZ National.