Double murder accused in court

Police and forensic investigators at the Mt Albert house where the two men were found slain. Photo / Dean Purcell

A 51-year-old man charged with a double murder in Auckland yesterday has had his name suppressed so his children can be told of the charges.

The man appeared in Auckland District Court today accused of murdering two men in the Auckland suburb of Mt Albert.

Details of the victims were also suppressed until the accused man's next court appearance on Monday. He was remanded in custody.

Police found the body of a man near the driveway of the Stilwell Road address yesterday morning and discovered the body of another man inside the house.

The man, who is an occupant of the address, will appear in the Auckland District Court this morning in front of a Justice of the Peace. He will enter no plea and be remanded in custody to reappear on Monday.

The accused man is unemployed and is from China.

Forensic teams remain at the scene of the murder this morning while a post mortem on the bodies is also be carried out today.

One of the men may have tried to jump a fence seconds before he died.

Police found his body near a wooden fence in a garden beside the driveway just after 11am yesterday.

Another man reported to be seriously injured inside the house died despite the efforts of St John paramedics.

Police said that two weapons were found at the house but are refusing to give any details about who the men were, or how they died.

Neighbours yesterday said the house occupants kept to themselves.

Donna Turner said there was "an occasional hello over the fence" but not much else.

Another neighbour, Gill Williams, said there was a lot of "coming and going" but no more than in her household, which has teenagers.

Her son Chris had done painting and landscape work at the house.

He said he had heard arguments coming from the property.

"It's a pretty well-respected area, so it is pretty freaky," he said, referring to the deaths.

- WITH NEWSTALK ZB and NZPA