Disgraced Napier lawyer's bid for parole fails

Gerald McKay on one of his last walks before going to jail last year. The Parole Board says he's got a bit to do yet to walk free again. Photo / File

Disgraced former long-term Napier lawyer Gerald McKay has failed in his first bid for release after a year and a half in jail for theft and fraud involving the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of client funds.

The thumbs down comes in a decision based on a Parole Board hearing held last week, the board commenting the now 75-year-old, who was a lawyer in Napier for more than 40 years, failed to comprehend the gravity of the crimes for which he had been in jail since the end of February last year.

It was then that a Napier jury found him guilty on five charges of theft, five of illegally using documents for pecuniary advantage and a charge of criminal breach of trust representing multiple offending.

Continuing to deny the offences, which brought an end to the firm McKay Hill and its property law enterprise, he was remanded in custody after the verdicts were delivered, and on April 6 last year was sentenced to four years and six months jail.

The board said it is not satisfied McKay's claims now of acceptance of guilt and remorse are genuine, and comments he made to the panel illustrated a "minimisation".

It considered his revised stance, including considering his responsibility was "only vicarious and not arising through personal dishonesty", was aimed at securing a favourable parole decision.

The history and manner of the offending, and the near six-year passage through the courts, indicated attitudes of "entitlement", with McKay then doing everything he could to avoid conviction, including attempting to blame one of his staff, after the investigation started and the firm was closed in 2010.

He had in jail even treated prison staff "like receptionists", an assessment noted.

By the time McKay next appears before the board in May he will have been in jail for half the sentence, but the board says in the meantime he must undertake "psychological interventions" to help him reach greater insight into what had happened.