KEY POINTS:
The loophole that allowed death-faker Bruce James Dale to steal a dead baby's name from his grave still exists despite a Government crackdown on identity fraud.
Dale took the identity of Michael Francis Peach _ who lived for just 10 hours _ from the Pukekohe headstone just across the road from where his estranged family were living, a scam he called "a piece of piss".
Dale used the identity to get a birth certificate, then an IRD number and a driving licence. He then disappeared, presumed drowned, at Port Waikato's Sunset Beach in 2002.
He set up a new life in Christchurch under Michael Peach's name, buying a house and registering a company before being uncovered this year.
The method, which had been suppressed until yesterday, is a variation of the security loophole known as the "The Day of the Jackal fraud" after it was popularised in the 1971 Frederick Forsyth novel.
The book's protagonist _ an assassin called the Jackal _ trawls graveyards looking for the headstone of a baby boy who, had he not died, would have been about the same age.
This form of passport fraud was closed off in New Zealand in 2003 when applications were data-matched against birth and death records.
Dale was caught out applying for a passport under his real name this year when it registered him as "dead".
He was applying within the seven-year period it takes for a missing person to be declared dead, not realising his ex-wife Sharon Behan-Kitto had him legally declared dead in 2004 in order to claim $1.12 million insurance .
The parents of Michael Peach, Graham and Maureen Peach of Pukekohe, said Dale's theft of their young son's name was despicable.
"He's taken Michael's name, he's committed crimes under it and he's sullied his reputation," Mr Peach said.
He said they had regularly visited and tended the grave over the past 47 years, and had installed a new headstone. Michael was their first-born, and although they were lucky enough to have other children, he remained "special" to them.
Mr Peach became emotional describing the way a police officer broke the news to them on Auckland Anniversary Weekend and said systems needed to be changed to prevent it happening again.
While having Michael's name in public was distressing, it was important for the public to see the depraved nature of Dale's offending.
The Government is introducing an Evidence of Identity Standard which already includes a requirement for photo ID when an IRD number is applied for.
However, photo ID is not required when you apply for a driver's licence, meaning Dale's scam could still work.
The Department of Internal Affairs will introduce measures in January that will tighten the loophole. A spokesman said "reasonable identification" would be required when someone applied for a birth certificate, and the person applying would be put on a register. People would be able to put a non-disclosure direction on their records.
