\u201cIt is so confusing. It seems to be going round and round and getting nowhere,\u201d he told the board yesterday. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey are actually doing reports on reports.\u201d <\/p>\n
Blackburn accepted \u201cthere is a lot of work to do, there\u2019s a long way to go\u201d, as he was told that cognitive and needs assessments and a psychogeriatric review were required before a release proposal could be considered. <\/p>\n
He was seeing a psychologist who would then make a referral to an appropriate rest home, and a release proposal would follow. <\/p>\n
The murder<\/p>\n
Blackburn turned up at the Christchurch home of Hindson, 45, two days after she ended their relationship, and made his way into her bedroom, where he strangled her.<\/p>\n
He then put her body in a wooden chest and nailed it shut, before trying unsuccessfully to bury it in his backyard. <\/p>\n
Blackburn then moved the chest to his car and drove around the city for two days looking for a suitable place to bury it.<\/p>\n
Three days after the murder, he drove to a suburban Ferrymead walking track, dragged the chest into an area of long grass and left it there.<\/p>\n
A week later, Blackburn confessed his crime to another former partner and was arrested the following day, admitting the murder and helping police find the body.<\/p>\n
At the recent parole hearing, he told the board he found prison hard but was reading, listening to music and exercising. <\/p>\n
Prison authorities described him as quiet and polite.<\/p>\n
At a previous parole hearing, Blackburn told the board he did not want to be released from prison.<\/p>\n
\u201cA life for a life,\u201d he said at the time, as he asked the board to stand him down from being considered for early release for another five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to stay in jail. I killed someone,\u201d he told them.<\/p>\n
Blackburn will next appear before the board in May next year.<\/p>\n
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamat\u0101. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.<\/p>\n