KEY POINTS:
A recidivist burglar has had his jail sentence quashed and case sent back to the district court because of his role as a police informant.
Conrad Gray, 24, smashed his way into the house of a Rotorua man last November and threatened him with an axe, said a Court of Appeal judgment released yesterday.
Gray was sentenced in Rotorua District Court to three years and three months on charges of assault with a weapon and burglary.
The Court of Appeal judgment said information about Gray's assistance to police in a separate investigation was not brought to the sentencing judge's attention.
His lawyer had argued that Gray's sentence was excessive when his role as an informant was taken into account.
The Crown disagreed, saying his list of convictions and the seriousness of his recent offending - committed while on parole - made the original sentence adequate.
But the Court of Appeal quashed it and said rather than reconsider the sentence, it should be returned to the District Court.
