'Have a beer' - pub yarn breaks ice in Crewe-case clash

Arthur Thomas. Photo / NZ Herald

It was the moment when two old adversaries finally stood face to face.

Arthur Thomas - twice convicted of a double murder and eventually pardoned after nine years in jail - walked into a Pukekohe pub in November 2000.

At the bar was Bruce Hutton, the former detective inspector accused of framing him for the 1970 murder of Harvey and Jeanette Crewe by planting a shellcase in the garden.

The high-profile case had robbed Mr Thomas of his freedom and effectively ended Mr Hutton's police career.

The two men had accused each other of lying to hide their criminal actions.

So they responded in true Kiwi fashion when they met in the pub - they had a beer together and talked about farming.

Former detective John McKenzie, who was with Mr Hutton, remembers him greeting Mr Thomas with the words, "Hello Arthur".

Mr Thomas did not recognise him at first, but then asked in a tone of disbelief, "Is this fella Bruce Hutton?"

At this point, Mr McKenzie remembers, Mr Thomas said he needed a beer. After a discussion about brands - the former policemen were drinking Mac's Gold, but Mr Thomas preferred Speight's Old Dark - Mr Hutton shouted him the drink.

As Mr McKenzie recalls it, the two men "chatted away like long-lost school pals" about Mr Thomas's 125ha Waikato farm, bought with the $950,000 compensation he received for his wrongful murder conviction.

Mr Hutton came from a similar rural background, and went back to farming after he left the police in 1976.

The chance meeting passed amicably enough, but it was a rare moment in a case marked by tension, bitterness and claims from both sides of conspiracies and hidden agendas.

Thomas supporters say the police used dirty tricks to win their case, from planting the shellcase to stacking juries and tapping defence phone calls.

Police involved in the case still maintain they were falsely accused of framing Mr Thomas by a 1980 royal commission, which they regard as a show trial set up by then-Prime Minister Robert Muldoon to justify Mr Thomas's 1979 pardon.

The Weekend Herald has learned police were so suspicious of the commission that they called in the Security Intelligence Service to sweep their rooms for bugs during the hearings.

At one point, the Australian judge in charge of the commission threatened to walk out unless the New Zealand government gave him the full legal protection enjoyed by New Zealand judges.

"You want me to tell the truth about Hutton," Justice Robert Taylor reportedly told Justice Minister Jim McLay. "I will say it but I won't say it and be sued for it."

Mr McLay, who confirmed the conversation took place, compared the case to the Dreyfus affair in 19th century France, when many leading members of society were more concerned about preserving the social order than the fact a Jewish army officer had been framed on spying charges.