Tamihere denied parole for ninth time

David Tamihere was convicted of the murder of two Swedish holiday makers. File photo / NZ Herald

Convicted double murderer David Tamihere has been denied parole for the ninth time.

Tamihere, 55, has spent nearly 20 years in prison after being found guilty in 1990 of murdering of Swedish backpackers Urban Hoglin and Heidi Paakkonen on the Coromandel Peninsula.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.

Tamihere had skipped bail for a 1986 rape and was on the run when the murders were committed.

He also had a conviction for the 1972 manslaughter of an Auckland prostitute.

Following the November 4 hearing, the Parole Board said parole was declined for "obvious reasons".

Tamihere was undertaking an adult sex offenders programme at his prison's special treatment unit, which would be completed in June next year.

His parole would again be reviewed in August following a report on his progress with the programme.

The name of his prison was withheld, but the report said Tamihere had moved prisons after "a long and settled period in prison elsewhere", which had been difficult for him and his family.

The Parole Board also said it had gone to "a great deal of trouble" to set a future course of home leave for Tamihere, yet nothing had happened.

One planned home leave had been cancelled two days before it was due to take place.

The board said it was unable to understand why the home leave had not taken place.

"This man is in the reintegrative phase of his sentence ... It is essential that he is prepared for release in a sensible, positive and safe way," the report said.

His wife Kris said last month that she had spoken to her husband in prison and he was not hopeful of being released.

"We don't have any expectations. We think it will be the status quo," she told the Herald on Sunday.

- NZPA