Killer's art fetches $1135

A self-portrait of Bassett Rd machine-gun murderer Ronald Jorgensen sold at an art auction last night for $1135.

The signed work in pencil was done not long after Jorgensen went to prison for life in 1964 for the 1963 murders of rival sly groggers Frederick George Walker, 38, and Kevin James Speight, 26, in Remuera.

Jorgensen and John Frederick Gillies used a .45 calibre sub-machine gun to mow down the two men. Jorgensen was released on parole but disappeared in December 1984.

His car was found at the bottom of sea cliffs at Kaikoura, north of Christchurch.

Earlier this year, a self-portrait in oil sold for $9170. Richard Thomson from the International Art Centre said there was little interest in the pencil self-portrait that "wasn't up to the quality of the earlier work".

- NZPA