Man guilty of murdering neighbour

A jury has found a man charged with killing his elderly Auckland neighbour guilty of her murder.

Wayne John Reid, 59, pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity in the High Court at Auckland to the murder of 84-year-old Beryl Campbell in her west Auckland unit in February 2008.

The jury of seven women and five men returned their verdict after deliberating for about three hours today.

Defence lawyer Peter Winter had argued Reid was convinced Mrs Campbell had been employed by the company he worked for to spy on him and that an alarm clock on her dressing table was an infrared camera aimed at his bedroom.

Reid went into her apartment with the intention of confronting her about this and telling her that he had had enough, but ended up strangling her to death, Mr Winter said.

The court was told Reid's psychological state began to deteriorate in 2007 when he was demoted from his position as a truck driver for Wattyl Paints - a position he had been in for close to 30 years and dearly loved - to a storeman.

After he killed Mrs Campbell, Reid collected cameras he found in the house and threw them into a lake behind railway tracks in Henderson, west Auckland.

Reid was still not convinced that they did not contain pictures of him, psychiatrist Ian Goodwin said.

Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes said Reid sat Mrs Campbell's body upright on her couch to try and make the death look natural and wiped down the scene with a cloth so that his fingerprints could not be detected.

As there was no early suspicion of a homicide, Mrs Campbell's home was cleaned by her daughters and her funeral arranged.

Reid attempted suicide a few days after the killing.

He had confided in his son, who told police.

Mr Kayes said there was no dispute that Reid had killed Mrs Campbell, but for him to be found insane at the time the defence had to prove Reid had a disease of the mind which was so bad that it meant he did not understand what he was doing was morally wrong.

In considering this, jurors had to think about whether Reid remembered what he had done, whether he covered anything up, if he understood the consequences, and if he knew and discussed what might happen to him, Mr Kayes said.

The trial lasted eight days.

Reid was released on bail to the custody of the Mason Clinic, where a psychiatric report will be prepared. A formal sentencing date will be set on December 2.

- NZPA