Conspiracy claims muddy divorce saga

National Party president Peter Goodfellow. Photo / Mark Mitchell

National Party president Peter Goodfellow's marriage break-up just gets messier.

A private detective acting for his former wife, Libby Black, has been accused of conspiring to break into Goodfellow's parents' house. And the private detective, Clinton Bowerman, is now threatening legal action against the Auckland City Council for spreading the allegation.

Private detective and Hobson Community Board deputy chairman Bowerman has been accused in an email of conspiring to break into Goodfellow's parents' apartment on Tamaki Drive and of being involved in a plot to steal two dogs.

He strongly denies the allegations.

The accusatory email was sent to the Auckland City Council by William Perese. Perese has previously acted as a minder for Black.

The email alleged Bowerman had conspired with Black to break into the apartment and to steal two dogs kept by Goodfellow and his partner, Desley Simpson, who is also chairwoman of the Hobson Community Board. Auckland City Council forwarded the email to Bowerman and Simpson.

In the email, Perese said he talked Black out of any involvement.

Bowerman has asked the council to delete it from its system but the council is refusing, saying legally it can't.

Lawyers acting for Bowerman have threatened action if they don't remove it.

The email was sent in May, shortly after Bowerman lodged a complaint to the police claiming Perese had stolen property while he was staying at a $3 million Orakei home Black lives in.

Christine Watson, manager for democracy services at the council, said the email was passed on to Simpson because it was addressed to the Hobson Community Board. "The issue raised in the complaint from Mr Perese was not a matter for council to investigate.

"We advised Mr Perese to approach the police if he believed a crime had been committed."

Watson said she did not believe the council had defamed Bowerman. By law the council had to store complaints on record, which did not constitute re-publishing the information.

Black said the accusations against her were rubbish.

"They are completely untrue and very hurtful."

Perese is known by several aliases and has previously been in the news as William Hirchkop. He and his partner, Lynda Ash, were sentenced to two years in jail in 2005 after being convicted of failing to provide the necessities of life to Ash's 2-year-old daughter.

Perese, Goodfellow and Simpson did not return calls to the Herald on Sunday.