KEY POINTS:
The man who killed Liam Ashley was once the type of burglar who would steal a teddy bear.
He soon became the type of robber who held a knife to the chest of an old woman while robbing her.
Then he stepped up to a serious crime on the North Shore that is covered by a suppression order.
Finally he strangled Liam in an attack so brutal that details could not be read to the court yesterday.
Herald inquiries have found the man's string of more than 70 convictions began in his teenage years: burglary, shoplifting, stealing cars.
He was just as willing to damage himself: at one stage there were eight admissions to hospital in just four years following suicide attempts by drinking caustic substances and self-inflicted wounds.
He had a father who left home, a mother who was unable to cope with him and adolescent years in and out of foster homes and institutions; shipped between police and welfare agencies.
In his late teens, he graduated to be the ringleader in a violent invasion of the home of an elderly woman living on her own.
High on amphetamines and LSD they tricked their way into her house, took advantage of her hospitality and disconnected the woman's phone.
The man then grabbed her from behind and held a knife to her. She was punched and held in a headlock and left tied to her bed.
The booty - $60 cash.
The man was sentenced to seven years in jail, the judge describing his offending as evil.
The man made claims then of having a personality disorder, schizophrenia and mood swings. He also claimed he was possessed by a prophet who urged him to be violent to others and destructive to himself. A psychiatrist did not believe he had a mental disorder but rather presented as having an ongoing risk of self-harm.
His mental health issues meant he was moved to Auckland's Mason Clinic. It is understood he was able to escape from there and spent a few days on the run. He was known to staff at the clinic as manipulative, physically aggressive and dangerous.
Three weeks after being released from prison this year he committed the crime that led to him being imprisoned again and being in the prison truck with Liam.
And then the 25-year-old graduated to murder.
