Artwork by one of country's most notorious killers for sale

A painting by notorious Bassett Rd machine gun killer Ron Jorgensen is up for sale on Trade Me. Photo / via Trade Me

A painting by one of the country's most notorious killers depicting a violent death scene is up for sale on a popular auction site.

The Ron Jorgensen artwork is being sold on Trade Me with the trader hoping to net at least $2500.

The large colourful signed artwork painted while Jorgensen was behind bars shows the dramatic moment a bull is speared by a horseman with blood spilling out of the beast.

Jorgensen became infamous when he and John Frederick Gillies gunned down two rival bootleg alcohol dealers in Remuera in December 1963.

The framed work was painted in 1964, when he took up art into his first year of a life sentence for the Bassett Rd machinegun murders.

He was largely self-taught with some paintings selling for as much as $10,000. Other prison artwork includes portraits and still life.

The piece failed to draw any bids by the time today's auction ended and relisted for a further week.

At the time the murders created a huge stir, with the machinegun massacre being likened to gangland-style killings.

Both Gillies and Jorgensen were sentenced to life imprisonment. Jorgensen was freed in 1974 but soon recalled for selling cannabis.

Jorgensen hit the headlines in 1984 after he was bailed to live with his elderly Danish father in Kaikoura. His car was found at the bottom of a cliff but Jorgensen's body was never found and police believe he faked his death.

There have been several unconfirmed sightings since. Some even believed police allowed him to flee in exchange for information on his criminal associates.

A suspected sighting in Perth led to the theory that he became a police informant in Australia.

Jorgensen, who would now be in his early 80s, was declared legally dead in 1998.

The mystery surrounding his disappearance has made his prison paintings sought-after by collectors.