Parole denied

A murderer and rapist who has served close to 20 years in jail has again been denied parole. Hayden Joseph Taylor, 41, was sentenced to preventive detention in 1997 for the September 1996 murder of Nicola Rankin, an act committed while on bail for the rape of former street worker Amanda Watt. The Parole Board heard Taylor’s case on September 9 but declared him an ‘‘undue risk to the safety of the community’’. The board found Taylor was ineligible for parole because of his ‘‘downplaying and minimising of his past sexual deviancy’’. The decision said: ‘‘Taylor continued to believe he has addressed his sexual deviancy and still maintains that there was no such element in relation to the murder of the second victim but we do not believe him’’. It followed concerns raised when Taylor last applied for parole on November 24, 2015, and the board found a psychological report ‘‘made it plain’’ Taylor continued to deny the sexual component of the murder. In 1996 Taylor forced 18-year-old Rankin, who was pregnant, to walk into Riverhead Forest, northwest of Auckland, where he hit her with a spade. At the time of the killing Taylor was on bail for an attack on Watt, during which he tied her hands behind her back, raped her, drove to Muriwai Beach and tried to force her into the dunes. She managed to persuade him to return to the city. Taylor is eligible for parole in November 2017.