KEY POINTS:
A convicted murderer freed on parole after "dramatically" turning her life around has been recalled after forming a relationship with a man who murdered a prostitute.
Michelle Richards, convicted under her married name Nicholson, and her 18-year-old lover, Robert Smith, were found guilty of murdering businessman Dennis Hind at his Temuka home in January 1997.
Richards and her three children were living with Mr Hind, who had changed his will in her favour, when she convinced Smith to murder him by repeatedly stabbing him while he was in his bed.
The Parole Board found Richards was convicted of a cold, calculated murder but said that while in prison she had studied extra-murally and gained a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in psychology and sociology, one of a handful prisoners to do so while incarcerated. She was released last December.
However, the Timaru Herald today reported she had been recalled to prison, with the board saying it was concerned about the risk she presented to the community.
"We are satisfied Ms Nicholson moved very quickly from being someone who the board felt (late) last year could be safely managed in the community as far as her risk was concerned, to someone who has moved to the point where she has become an undue risk to the safety of the community," it said.
Nicholson had initially done well once freed but in April met a man at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting who had been jailed for murdering a prostitute.
They formed a relationship despite her probation officer advising against it.
She gave the man a cellphone, despite it being against the rules of the rehabilitation programme, and let him stay the night when he absconded from a residential programme, the newspaper said.
"It is perfectly clear to the board that if Ms Nicholson was released at this stage, a whole lot of things could go badly wrong. A whole lot of offences could potentially be committed...
"It seems fairly clear to us that there needs to be some serious psychological input and assistance for her to deal with the fairly obvious issues which are related to the decision making we have referred to, which led her down a hopeful path but then quickly reversed back into prison."
- NZPA
