Outrageous injustice continues
It was an ‘‘unspeakable outrage’’.
A high-profile 1980 royal commission of inquiry found Arthur Allan Thomas was unjustly prosecuted for the killings of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in 1970, one of New Zealand’s most mysterious unsolved crimes.
Thomas was twice convicted of murder, based on shonky evidence, and the commission found police detectives Bruce Hutton and Len Johnston planted a shell case at the crime scene to frame him.
That, the commission found, was the ‘‘unspeakable outrage’’.
Yet, despite this, it appears police have never accepted Thomas’ innocence and the outrage has continued.
The Stuff Circuit team recently had a look at the deaths, examining leads and clues, but battled for answers in the face of a refusal from police to front.
Nobody from the police would appear on The District podcast. Instead, they sent a patronising statement rejecting allegations from the Thomas family that they have been targeted.
‘‘Any balanced reporting of the review should include the comments and conclusions of David Jones, QC, who was appointed to provide independent oversight of the review,’’ the statement says.
The review referred to was carried out by police earlier this decade and, unbelievably, didn’t clear Thomas, instead noting there was physical evidence linking the Thomas farm with the murder.
Police claim a wheel axle belonging to the Thomas family trailer weighed down Harvey Crewe’s body, which was found in a river.
Of course, given the police demands for ‘‘balance’’, Jones’ comments and conclusions about Hutton must not be forgotten: That there was enough evidence to bring criminal charges against him.
The review was released in 2014, a year after Hutton’s death, when his funeral courted controversy. Police Commissioner Mike Bush, then deputy commissioner, delivered a eulogy quoting a 1967 remark that said the disgraced detective had ‘‘integrity beyond reproach’’.
That might have been true in 1967, but thanks to Hutton’s actions in 1970, by 2013 such a statement was demonstrably false.
It’s hard to understand why the police of today continue to smear Thomas.
The conduct of Hutton and Johnston is ‘‘orchestrated litany of lies’’ stuff and must lead to questions about other evidence pointing toward Thomas, including the wheel axle.
Police are in no position to make demands about the reporting of this case. In fact, it was the dogged digging of
Auckland Star journalist Pat Booth that helped uncover Thomas’ wrongful conviction.
If not for people like Booth and forensic scientist Dr Jim Sprott, Thomas, an innocent man framed by police, may have sat in prison for decades.
He did not kill the Crewes. Hopefully, one day soon, we’ll know who did, but one suspects for that to happen, the myopic focus on Thomas would have to end.
It’s hard to understand why the police of today continue to smear Arthur Allan Thomas.