Red Fox Tavern killers jailed for life for murder

Two men who murdered Red Fox Tavern publican Chris Bush ‘‘for no good reason’’ have been jailed for life, more than 30 years after the killing. The 43-year-old father of two was shot dead at the pub in Maramarua, north Waikato, on October 24, 1987. In August 2017, Mark Joseph Hoggart, 60, and another man, who has interim name suppression, were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated robbery. The pair maintained their innocence. But a jury did not believe them. Yesterday, at the High Court at Auckland, Justice Mark Woolford sentenced the pair to life imprisonment, with a minimum nonparole period of 10 years. In a victim impact statement, Bush’s widow Gaye Bush said she had her whole life to look forward to with her husband and that was taken away when he was killed.