Bunker kidnap conspirator drops deportation fight

John Burrett, the bunker-in-the-bush kidnap plotter, will be kicked out of New Zealand after dropping his fight to stay.

The appeal by Burrett - serving a seven-year sentence for conspiring to kidnap millionaire businessman Bill Trotter - was to have been heard two days ago. Authorities can deport the British-born New Zealand citizen when he is eligible for parole in two years.

Burrett must serve two-thirds of his sentence, minus the 11 months he spent in custody before his trial, which ended in June 2003.

He was the ringleader in an audacious kidnap plot to seize Mr Trotter at gunpoint and hide him in a bunker in Upper Hutt. The plan was to seek a $1 million ransom for Mr Trotter, the son of businessman Sir Ronald Trotter.

The plan was foiled when the bunker was discovered and a police surveillance operation uncovered the offenders.

Immigration officials are poised to send Burrett's accomplices, Matthew Payne and Simon Phillpott, back to Britain.

Phillpott, who has completed a 2 1/2 -year sentence and is married to a New Zealander, has been served with a deportation notice but has appealed to the Deportation Review Tribunal. It is understood the tribunal will rule on that appeal within a month.

Payne must serve two-thirds of his five-year sentence. He is already subject to a removal order and will be kicked out of New Zealand once eligible for release.

Immigration Minister Paul Swain personally signed Burrett's deportation order.

The Privy Council in London refused Burrett and Payne leave to appeal three months ago.

- NZPA