Joint inquest scheduled for murdered woman and father of killer's first victim suspected of taking his own life

Groomsman Paul Wilson, left, with newly married couple David Bain, right, and Liz Davies, centre, after their wedding ceremony in Christchurch. Photo / Supplied

A joint inquest for a murdered life coach and the father of her killer's first victim will be held this year, the coroner's office confirmed today.

Paul Russell Wilson, a convicted killer and rapist who was a groomsman at the wedding of David Bain, who was acquitted of the murders of his family, lay in wait for eight hours overnight, before Nicole Marie Tuxford, 27, arrived back in her Merivale home in April, 2018.

Wilson, also known as Paul Tainui, was sentenced in 2019 to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 28 years.

The shocking news that Wilson committed a second murder – 24 years after he murdered former girlfriend Kimberly Schroder in Hokitika – was too much for Schroder's father.

Nicole Tuxford was killed in her Merivale home in 2018. Photo / File

Gary James Schroder, 67, died in a suspected suicide just hours after Wilson made his first court appearance.

Now, a joint inquest for Tuxford and Schroder has been scheduled in Christchurch before coroner Marcus Elliott from November 14 to 25.

At Wilson's sentencing at the High Court in March 2019, the families of Tuxford and Schroder criticised the Parole Board and the latest sentence handed out to the double murderer.

Schroder family spokeswoman Jenny Keoghan said the board had blood on its hands after releasing Wilson only for him to kill again.

"We hold the Parole Board fully accountable for what has happened, there was a complete injustice done back then," she said.

"They should have blood on their hands for that."

After Wilson admitted killing again, the Parole Board commissioned an independent review into whether it had made the right decision in 2011 to release him from prison on life parole.

Parole Board chair Sir Ron Young said the review had "found proper process was followed, a stepped path to parole occurred, and reasonable decision-making by the New Zealand Parole Board in the case of Paul Wilson (Tainui)".

He said he had also met Tuxford and Schroder's families to express his "profound sympathy".

Tuxford's sister Christine Tuxford also said at the time that her family felt justice had not been served.

"We were hoping this might have been the first time where they say, 'lock him up and throw away the key'," she said.

Wilson was convicted and jailed in 1995 for the rape and murder of Kimberly Jean Schroder in Hokitika the previous May.

A 31-year-old sickness beneficiary at the time, Wilson visited Schroder's flat and tied up her male flatmate.

When his girlfriend came home, he cut her hands during a confrontation, before cutting off her jeans and raping her.

He then stabbed her in the neck after she made comments about relationships with other men.

Wilson was sentenced to 15 years non-parole, though on appeal that was reduced to 13 years.

His parole was granted at his fifth time of asking in December 2010, with his behaviour described as "exemplary and faultless".

Wilson was released in January 2011 into a residential programme that included at least one year of intensive therapy.

His release conditions also permanently banned him from visiting the West Coast or contacting the Schroder family, and he is subject to the "standard conditions" of parole for life, which includes recall to prison if he is deemed an "undue risk to the safety of the community".

Wilson had spent the past few years living in a tidy red-brick townhouse in the Aranui area of Christchurch. He left at 6am every weekday for his job at a scrap metal merchant on the other side of Christchurch.

Nicole (Nicky) Marie Tuxford had just embarked on a new career as a life coach and spiritual guide when she was killed at her home in the upmarket Christchurch suburb of Merivale, near Hagley Park, on April 7, 2018.

Tuxford had been training for two years with the Phoenix Light Foundation to become a life coach.

Wilson appears at his sentencing hearing. Photo / Dean Purcell

Wilson was described as a model neighbour, keeping his place tidy and always stopping to chat with elderly residents.

"I'm very upset by this," one woman said.

"I liked [the man]. He was always friendly, chatty. He was also a very private person."

Another neighbour said Wilson worked long hours but would always stop and say hello.

"It's very distressing actually," she said.

They say life appeared to have been going well for Wilson.

He had a solid job, recently bought a silver Audi, which his neighbours all thought was "a bit flash".

But they didn't know anything about where he'd come from – or his dark past.

He drank at the nearby McKenzies Hotel on Pages Rd where he was "just another local".

It's understood that Wilson, armed with a knife, broke into Tuxford's house sometime on the morning of April 7.

The crime scene closely mirrored that of the horrific Hokitika murder years earlier, the Herald has been told.

Fleeing in Tuxford's $2000 Toyota Corolla, Wilson was involved in a minor traffic crash.

Police officers took his details but he was allowed to go. There was nothing sinister in it, it appeared.

But hours later when the Exeter St bloodbath was discovered, the small prang suddenly took on a new meaning.

Police officers soon tracked down Wilson.

He was arrested soon after and charged the next day.

News of his arrest soon filtered over the Southern Alps – and back to the Schroder family he destroyed all those years ago.

It was all too much for Gary Schroder.

When David Bain wed primary school teacher Liz Davies at a winery outside Christchurch in January 2014, Wilson was his groomsman.

The killer was part of a three-man bridal party, which also included long-term Bain champion Joe Karam's sons Matthew and Richard.

Bain, who was acquitted in 2009 of the 1994 murders of five of his family members, and Wilson met while working in the prison kitchen, a former inmate who shared a cell with Bain said.

Nancy Schroder, the mother of Wilson's first victim, told the Herald in January 2014 that it made her "bloody sick" to learn the killer was celebrating while the family continued to grieve.

The family had strongly opposed Wilson's parole and doubted his remorse.

"The murdering bastard. It makes you bloody sick."

Speaking to the Herald at the time, Joe Karam said Wilson was Bain's best and oldest friend.

The pair were two of the longest-serving inmates in their section of the prison and, though other inmates came and went, the two remained close.

"They sort of naturally became ... very close friends. The single person he [Bain] has spent the most time with over the past 18 years is Paul Wilson."