Cabinet to consider inquiry into Phillip Smith's escape - Key

Smith said he'd received help to renew his passport last year.

Cabinet will consider whether there is a need for a wide-ranging inquiry into convicted murderer and paedophile Phillip Smith's escape from the country, Prime Minister John Key says.

Smith, 40, fled the country on November 6 while on temporary release from prison using a passport held in his birth name, Phillip Traynor.

He was caught in a Brazilian hostel after almost a week on the run.

A wide-ranging inquiry into how he was able to escape would be considered, Mr Key told Radio New Zealand this morning, in addition to individual reviews being carried out by all relevant Government departments.

"There are individual inquiries being undertaken in those relevant ministries and there's a number of ministry's involved.

"What Cabinet will do today is think about and consider whether there needs to be a wider inquiry," he told the broadcaster.

- NZME. News Service

Killer's helper likely to have broken the law - Minister

Whoever helped Phillip Smith renew his passport under an alias in prison is likely to have broken the law, Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne says.

Mr Dunne's comments come as Corrections Minister Sam Lotu-liga confirmed yesterday the circumstances around how convicted drug offender Kris Willoughby was also able to recently dodge border controls and fly to Australia in contravention of his prison release conditions would also be examined by the inter-agency inquiry into Smith's absconding.

Smith, who fled the country while on temporary release from prison using a passport held in his birth name, Phillip Traynor, is reportedly planning to voluntarily return to New Zealand, avoiding a lengthy stay in unpleasant Brazilian prisons while an extradition or deportation process takes place. He was apprehended by Brazilian police last week in Rio de Janeiro.

In a statement issued through his lawyer Tony Ellis at the weekend, Smith confirmed he'd received help to renew his passport last year.

He correctly said that "Under NZ law it is not unlawful for a prisoner to possess a passport".

While it was now a matter for police, Mr Dunne said yesterday although it was not illegal for prisoners to have a passport "it's not legal for someone who's in jail or under detention, including I think even being on bail, to apply or renew a passport. I would imagine that assisting someone to break the law is an offence in and of itself."

Police were yesterday unwilling to comment on Smith's confirmation that he'd received assistance "as this is the subject of an ongoing investigation into the circumstances of him being able to obtain a passport and leave the country whilst imprisoned", a spokesman said.

But the police said they were unaware of Smith's birth name as used on his passport when he was originally charged and convicted of child sex offences and the murder of his victim's father.

"In 1995, at the time of charging, police were not aware of any other aliases to inform the court or other agencies," the spokesman said.

That is at odds with comments by Police Commissioner Mike Bush who last week told media that at the time Smith was charged and convicted "we were well aware of the names he was using" including his birth name.

Whether police knew of Smith's use of his birth name or not, Mr Dunne said: "The issue that this whole thing throws up is that there needs to be much greater information sharing between agencies so that there should be some way of flagging someone like Phillip John Smith who has got criminal convictions or who is in prison so that when he applies for a passport we actually also know that he's Phillip John Traynor."

Deficiencies in information sharing between border control officials, Internal Affairs' passport operations, police and Corrections were again highlighted at the weekend by Willoughby's flight. He has reportedly been taunting authorities on a Facebook page. Mr Lotu-liga said the matter would be "'part of a wider inter-agency review".