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A 39-year-old beneficiary is behind bars accused of threatening to kill Prime Minister Helen Clark.
Karl Andrew Fenn allegedly wrote to Miss Clark demanding $100,000 be paid into his bank account or she would be a "dead woman".
Fenn appeared in Auckland District Court yesterday when he was remanded in custody until tomorrow for a bail application.
It was reported today that Miss Clark's correspondence secretary opened the letter on November 1 and alerted police.
Miss Clark's office refused to comment on "private security matters".
Auckland police were unavailable for comment today.
It is the second known case involving a death threat against Miss Clark which went to court.
Former undercover police officer Frank Louis Miessen, 46, was found guilty in Christchurch District Court in 2005 of threatening to kill the PM.
He was convicted and released on a 12-month good behaviour bond The court heard Miessen told a police psychiatrist in July 2004 that he had firearms and had considered "doing something" to Miss Clark.
The psychiatrist reported the remarks and an armed offenders squad searched Miessen's Banks Peninsula farm, seizing his guns.
During that operation, Miessen said a number of times that he wanted to strangle the prime minister and break her neck, according to police.
- NZPA