Murderer in prison hostage stand-off

George Baker. Photo / Dean Purcell

Police were last night negotiating with convicted murderer George Baker, who was holding an elderly sex offender hostage in Paremoremo prison.

The Armed Offenders Squad was called to Auckland Prison, on the North Shore, about 4pm yesterday.

Baker was believed to have taken an 83-year-old sex offender hostage, One News reported, in the maximum security area of the jail.

The Department of Corrections last night said there were no safety concerns for prison staff or anybody else other than the prisoner taken hostage.

Police officers remained at the prison last night.

Corrections northern region manager Warren Cummins said the focus was on de-escalating the situation and coming to a peaceful resolution.

"Police and prison staff are continuing to talk with the prisoner. Our priority is the safety of the hostage."

Baker was jailed in 2006 for strangling and stomping on 17-year-old Liam Ashley in the back of a prison van.

The teenager was found slumped on the floor, before Baker told security guards: "[Brother] you better pull that guy out, I just killed him. He isn't breathing."

Liam was put on life support but it was turned off the next morning.

Baker, who has a total of 83 convictions, caused more controversy when he appeared in Auckland District Court wearing a T-shirt with a large eye motif on the front and the words: "Keep your eyes on the rising star of crime."

As he walked out of the court room, the back of his shirt revealed the words: "Serial killers work alone."

Baker was 25 when he was sentenced to at least 18 years imprisonment in December 2006.

Last year he allegedly attacked a prison officer with an improvised weapon in the back of a van.

He had made the weapon from a small piece of metal, which he had "concealed on himself internally".

Baker, who has a history of mental illness, is said to be well-known to staff and management at Auckland Prison while serving time in prison for previous offences.

A report by the Department of Corrections in 2006 about the investigation into Liam Ashley's death said Baker was "best known" as a prolific self-harmer.