GONE FISHING
Gail Maney served 15 years inside for masterminding a gangland hit But she says she never even meet the dead man
Gail Maney was sentenced to life in prison for ordering the murder of a man in 1989. But she says she never even met him.
Stuff and RNZ have teamed up to produce the true-crime podcast
Gone Fishing. The eight-part podcast, released tomorrow, asks serious questions about the police investigation that led to Maney serving a life sentence for murder.
Questions are also raised about police tactics to secure witness statements and the reliability of jury trials.
Maney was arrested for the murder of Deane Fuller-Sandys after he was said to have burgled her home in West Auckland, nine years earlier. Police claimed Stephen Stone committed the killing.
‘‘They gave a scenario of events in which they said he had sold me drugs and that he had come back and stolen the drugs back off me, so I ordered a hit,’’ she said.
But Maney, who spent 15 years in prison, has always maintained her innocence. She is on parole.
Stone is still serving a life sentence, and will reappear before the Parole Board in late 2019.
Fuller-Sandys was a 21-year-old tyre-fitter from West Auckland who disappeared on August 21, 1989. His body has never been found.
Until Maney and Stone were arrested, it was believed FullerSandys had disappeared while fishing off rocks at a west coast beach.
Maney says she never even knew him. In fact, she doesn’t even think he was murdered.
‘‘When I was charged with murder . . . that was the first time I’d heard the name Deane FullerSandys.’’
Gone Fishing will be available from tomorrow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or any other podcast app.
To find out more about the case, visit stuff.co.nz/gonefishing