Both men were sentenced<\/a> to life imprisonment. <\/p>\nDespite the convictions, suppression remained in place for Wilson as he battled to overturn his convictions.<\/p>\n
In May 2023, the Court of Appeal firmly rejected his appeal on various legal and evidential grounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen viewed cumulatively, the strands of evidence relied upon by the Crown created a convincing case against Mr Wilson,\u201d the appeal court stated.<\/p>\n
The three-judge court also lifted the name suppression order, but it remained in place while Wilson exhausted his legal options.<\/p>\n
That ended today when the Supreme Court allowed his application to overturn the Court of Appeal\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n
![\"Chris]()
Chris Bush was shot dead in the Red Fox Tavern in October 1987. Photo \/ File<\/p>\n
The ruling means the Herald can now reveal Wilson\u2019s extensive criminal history \u2013 which includes another murder conviction.<\/p>\n
In 1999, Wilson was the president of the Filthy Few motorcycle gang in Tauranga. <\/p>\n
Better known in the criminal fraternity as \u201cLittle Willy\u201d, he shot and killed his former girlfriend Jo-Anne van Duyvenbooden in her own home, before dumping her body a few hundred metres down a slope outside the cottage she lived in.<\/p>\n
Two years later, Wilson was convicted of murdering the 32-year-old after a fellow member of the Filthy Few gave evidence against him. <\/p>\n
![\"Former]()
Former Filthy Few president James Henry Wilson, in Tauranga in 2000. Photo \/ File<\/p>\n
Red Fox: \u2018A miscarriage of justice\u2019<\/p>\n
In the Red Fox prosecution, the Crown had to establish that the evidence placed Wilson and Hoggart at the crime and that Hamilton wasn\u2019t involved. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe consider the Crown case failed to establish either to the required standard of proof,\u201d Justice Kos wrote.<\/p>\n
Wilson\u2019s counsel, Christopher Stevenson, successfully argued that the inability to use evidence from Hamilton\u2019s neighbour, which he likened to a confession, was a breach of his client\u2019s fundamental right to present a defence.<\/p>\n
Justice Kos agreed and said the trial judge was wrong not to allow that to happen, and subsequently ruled five other aspects of evidence from the Crown witnesses inadmissible.<\/p>\n
![\"Publican]()
Publican Christopher Bush was murdered at the Red Fox Tavern in 1987.<\/p>\n
That included a woman noticing a car scoping out the Red Fox on the Friday of Labour weekend, two women\u2019s evidence about the accused\u2019s arrival at their home in the early hours of Sunday morning, a glove \u2013 a print of which was found on the safe, a grassy shoe print found inside the tavern near the back door, which the offenders entered.<\/p>\n
Wilson and Hoggart\u2019s account of where they were that weekend was also dubbed as \u201clies\u201d by the Crown.<\/p>\n
Kos said that evidence should not have been legitimate parts of the Crown case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe jury should not have been asked to consider them as lies to conceal guilt.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is true that the issues with the evidence … and discussed in detail … could have led the jury to disregard it or to give it minimal weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe jury may also not have relied on the \u2018lies\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere nevertheless remains a risk that the jury did rely on the inadmissible evidence and on the lies, and this means there is a \u2018real risk that the outcome of the trial was affected\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
That meant \u201crelatively few strands\u201d were left directly related to the Red Fox, and that there was a risk that the jury considered the evidence directly linking the appellants to the Red Fox to be indispensable to its conclusion and, without it, would not have reached guilty verdicts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis constitutes a miscarriage of justice,\u201d Justice Kos wrote.<\/p>\n
The judges found that certain evidence should not have been admissible, which meant \u201cthe outcome of the trial may have been different without that evidence\u201d. <\/p>\n
The court also concluded that, while a reasonable jury could have come to the view that the Crown had excluded the reasonable possibility of Hamilton being one of the offenders, they came to that view through inadmissible opinion evidence of Detective Senior Sergeant Hayward. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was thus a miscarriage of justice on both of these grounds, and the appeals must be allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018A 30-year plus delay\u2019<\/p>\n
Justice Kos said a lengthy delay in deciding to charge an offender was not necessarily an issue if there was sufficient evidence to charge an accused.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I have concluded … that there was. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe real issue is whether the delay has an effect on the reasonableness of the verdicts.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the judges found that although the lengthy delay exacerbated \u201cmany\u201d evidential deficiencies given witnesses had died or faced memory issues, a reasonable jury could still have reached guilty verdicts on the remaining admissible evidence.<\/p>\n
![\"Mark]()
Mark Joseph Hoggart. Photo \/ Dean Purcell![\"James]()
James Henry Wilson at the Auckland High Court during his trial for the 1987 murder of Red Fox Tavern publican Chris Bush. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
Lester Hamilton<\/p>\n
The decision stated that Hamilton, like the now-acquitted men, had a possible motive to commit the offending, which was to finance his drug habit or a heroin importation plan.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d also made detailed plans to rob the Red Fox and possibly carried out a scoping visit about two and a half weeks beforehand.<\/p>\n
His plan also included the use of a shotgun and to shoot anyone who resisted.<\/p>\n
Hamilton had also confessed his involvement to numerous associates.<\/p>\n
The court found that because of the similarities between the evidence against Hoggart and Wilson and that against Hamilton, a verdict of guilty against them \u201ccould not have been reasonable unless the Crown had excluded the possible involvement of Mr Hamilton beyond reasonable doubt\u201d. <\/p>\n
Wilson\u2019s lawyer said evidence from a neighbour of Hamilton who said, \u201cWell the stupid bastard shouldn\u2019t have moved\u201d, when talking about the Red Fox case, was a statement of confession.<\/p>\n
The neighbour was not a criminal, did not know the appellants and had no incentive to be anything but truthful. <\/p>\n
The exclusion of the neighbour\u2019s evidence was a breach of Wilson\u2019s \u201cfundamental right to present an effective defence\u201d as it deprived him of the opportunity to call the only living witness without a criminal history or connection to anyone in the case who could say that Hamilton had confessed.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court agreed, stating the trial judge was wrong to have excluded the neighbour\u2019s evidence.<\/p>\n
\u2018The different conclusions reflect the complexity\u2019<\/p>\n
Detective Superintendent Dave Lynch said today the offending at the tavern was \u201ca tragic event that resulted in the death of Mr Bush and had a profound impact on his family, friends, staff members who were present, and the wider community\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognise that today\u2019s decision will be difficult for many people connected to the case, particularly Mr Bush\u2019s family, who have lived with the consequences of this crime for almost four decades.<\/p>\n
![\"Detective]()
Detective Superintendent Dave Lynch. Photo \/ Brett Phibbs<\/p>\n
\u201cThe investigation into the Red Fox Tavern robbery and homicide was extensive, spanning many years and multiple investigative reviews. <\/p>\n
\u201cPolice remain proud of the dedication and professionalism of the investigators who worked tirelessly to seek answers on behalf of the victim, his family, and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lynch said the decision didn\u2019t diminish the seriousness of the offending or the commitment shown by investigators over many years. <\/p>\n
\u201cPolice undertook the prosecution based on the evidence available and in accordance with our obligations under the criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police respected the court\u2019s decision and would \u201ccarefully review the judgment\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe differing conclusions reached by the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court illustrate the complexity of the evidential issues considered throughout these proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Additional reporting Jared Savage<\/p>\n
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Crown argued Wilson and Hoggart were the two heavily disguised robbers who burst in through a back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51209,3595,1121,4509,13619,1349,4131,305,6209,4729,14641,14054,11156,19720,4275,10136,11692,111,43,139,69,76379,39021,15406,30246,78030,165,143362,6038],"class_list":["post-513058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-40yearold","tag-by","tag-case","tag-cold","tag-convictions","tag-court","tag-fox","tag-have","tag-henry","tag-highest","tag-jailed","tag-james","tag-killing","tag-land","tag-murder","tag-named","tag-nearly","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-overturned","tag-publican","tag-red","tag-supreme","tag-tavern","tag-their","tag-tossed","tag-wilson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}