Killer let go from Govt job

Michelle Nicholson had turned her life around, but lost her job for not disclosing her murder conviction. Amy Maas reports.

A woman who organised the ‘‘cold and calculated’’ murder of her former partner lost her job at a government organisation for failing to disclose her conviction.

Michelle Nicholson was recalled to prison in December 2015 only months after being let go from her role as a senior analyst for the Health Safety and Quality Commission.

The loss of her job caused her significant ‘‘emotional, financial and physical hardship’’, according to a parole decision. She had lost 12kg and said she did not have enough money to eat properly.

Nicholson was hired by the commission in July 2014 while using the name Michelle Richards. She did not disclose her conviction as she was not required to, despite being sentenced to life in prison.

The commission policy at the time stated that criminal convictions should be checked where a job includes ‘‘significant financial responsibilities or where it requires contact with children or other vulnerable members of the community’’.

The job application asked applicants to declare whether they had been convicted of a crime within the last seven years, or whether they had charges pending.

A spokesman for the commission would not comment on the case as all employment matters were ‘‘private and confidential’’, and Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne, who has oversight of the crown entity, would not comment.

The commission reviews its policies on a three-yearly basis and the earlier policy has since been updated to include criminal checks on all employees.

Nicholson was sentenced to life in prison in July 1997 for the murder of her partner, Temuka businessman Dennis Hind.

She had pursued a relationship with him to ‘‘finance her drug habit and drug debts’’, and after he included her in his will she convinced her young lover Robert Smith to kill him.

Nicholson spent 13 years in Christchurch Women’s Prison where she said she had turned her life around, and completed two degrees.

She was first released on parole in December 2007, but was recalled to prison six months later.

In December 2011, she was released from prison a second time and pursued her masters degree in criminology from Victoria University before graduating in 2014.

At her graduation, she said she had worked hard to turn her life around.

‘‘My children are proud of me now for what I’ve done and it’s not about the academic stuff, even though they think that’s cool.’’

Nicholson was recalled to prison in December 2015 after police found her home littered with ‘‘a large amount’’ of drug paraphernalia, including syringes, needs and spoons in her bedroom. They also found Class A drugs.

She denied the drugs were hers at a parole hearing in April where she was deemed an ‘‘undue risk’’ of reoffending. She will reappear before the board in November.

My children are proud of me Michelle Nicholson