Hawke's Bay farmer murder reward stirring callers

New information that could help find the killer of Hawke's Bay farmer Jack Nicholas has emerged, thanks to a campaign to raise money for a reward.

The Sensible Sentencing Trust called for public donations last week but as well as generating thousands of dollars, several calls to the trust's fundraising line had been from people wanting to reveal information related to the murder on August 27 last year.

"For their own reasons they felt they wanted to go through us rather than the police," trust spokesman Garth McVicar said.

"I think that's fair enough. I can understand where people are coming from and why not everyone might want to go to them (police)."

Although none of the informants had been seeking to benefit from the reward, Mr McVicar said two calls in particular had been substantiated by police and were "quite significant" in his opinion.

"The renewed publicity has jogged people's memories about conversations they might have had and events that might have happened after the murder."

Mr McVicar said there was still a high level of concern that the killer was still on the loose.

Mr Nicholas, a 71-year-old Puketitiri, Hawke's Bay, farmer was shot dead at his remote property.

Inquiry chief Inspector Godfrey Watson said while police were already aware of some of the information received, other material was being investigated.

After an initial $25,000 donation to the fund from Napier businessman Rodney Green, smaller donations had begun to come in and Mr McVicar was optimistic the reward could top $50,000.

"It is triggering the thought process about this crime and that's what it's all about."

Mr Nicholas' widow, Agnes Nicholas, said she and her sons, Oliver and Edward, had been humbled by the response and she wanted to thank supporters "from the bottom of my heart".

- Hawke's Bay-Today