Nicola Rankin's body was found in a shallow grave in the Riverhead Forest
Nicola Rankin's body was found in a shallow grave in the Riverhead Forest
Carol Rankin has dedicated the past 12 years to making sure her daughter's killer remains behind bars.
This time she's asked the public to support her cause by writing to the Parole Board in the hope Hayden Joseph Taylor will be denied release once again.
"Nobody wants him back out, nobody wants him back in the community."
Nicola Rankin was 18 and pregnant when Taylor forced her to walk into the remote Riverhead Forest in September 1996. He bludgeoned her with a spade and her body was found in a shallow grave with her hands bound behind her back and her underwear removed.
Taylor was on bail at the time for kidnapping and raping Amanda Watt just months earlier - an attack that was strikingly similar in that he threatened her with a knife, tied her hands behind her back and drove her to Muriwai Beach.
The then 21-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment for Rankin's murder and the attack on Watt and has been behind bars for the past 24 years after being declined parole numerous times.
Nicola Rankin was pregnant when Hayden Taylor killed her and buried her body in a shallow grave. Photo /File
Each time the convicted killer has appeared for a parole hearing the board has been troubled that he has continued to deny any sexual element to the murder and said he remains an undue risk to the community.
Next week he will try for the 13th time. In the build-up to the hearing Rankin called on members of the public via social media to support her bid to keep him behind bars by writing to the board.
"I'm just hoping that it will make a big impact as well.
"A lot of people in the community have been affected by him, by the incident and there's a lot of people who remember and know so they have the right to have their say and hopefully keep him in there."
When asked whether she believes Taylor is likely to have changed she doesn't hesitate to answer.
"No, why would he? He's never said what happened. He's never shown me any remorse. There's no emotion."
"I don't think he's rehabilitational and I'll be telling the board he'll do it again."
Carol Rankin is pleading for the Parole Board to keep her daughter's killer behind bars. Photo / File
Carol, who moved to Australia several years ago, says she never wants anyone else to have to go through what she has - the pain of losing her daughter has been horrific.
"It's taken a big toll on me."
Despite that toll she has continued to fight and express her views every time he has come up for parole.
Carol had hoped to have flown home for the hearing but is unable to because of Covid restrictions. Instead a good friend will attend and deliver her message to the board.
During his last attempt at freedom the board noted that although Taylor had been assessed to have completed treatment in relation to his offending, "that treatment has not dealt with the elements of the murder offence, which appear to have a sexual element and for which Mr Taylor has provided no other plausible explanation".
Taylor's life sentence came with preventive detention, which meant he would be managed by Corrections even once he was released. However, that was quashed by the Court of Appeal two years ago after he argued he should not have been given such a severe punishment.
Convicted murderer Hayden Taylor. Photo/ Supplied
April 30, 1996: Kidnapped and raped Amanda Watts
June 1996: Released on bail and allegedly abducts and rapes a 14-year-old girl who doesn't press charges
Sept 20, 1996: Murdered Nicola Rankin
Nov 20, 1996: Given a life sentence for Rankin's murder
Dec 6, 1997: Sentenced to preventive detention after being found guilty of Watt's rape and kidnapping.
Nov 2015: Completed Adult Sex Offender Treatment Programme where he continued to deny any element of sexual deviancy.
Sept 2016: Board remained concerned about Taylor's continued denial of any sexual element to Rankin's murder. He is denied parole after the Board found he remained an undue risk to community safety.
Nov 2017: Board remained concerned about Taylor's continued denial of any sexual element to Rankin's murder and again denies parole.
Feb 2018: Release to work application declined, partly because he was removed from the prison computer room due to inappropriate use of the computers. He is also involved in "rule breaking behaviour" during an earlier Release to Work at Spring Hill.
Nov 2018: Taylor appealed his PD saying a development in the law in 2005 meant he shouldn't have received such a harsh sentence. It was quashed and replaced with a 14-year sentence.
