Victim's brother says Bell violated parole

11.45am - by IAN STUART

Heads need to roll over a blunder that allowed triple murderer William Bell to go on a murderous spree while on parole, a victim's brother says.

Stephen Couch, the brother of Susan Couch who survived a killing spree which left three others dead in the Mt Wellington-Panmure Returned Services' Association (RSA) clubrooms last year, said today that Bell should never have been allowed on the streets.

He had been told Bell had not followed guidelines after he was released on parole last year for other crimes.

He told NZPA today that someone in the probation office "cocked up big time" when Bell was allowed to walk out without telling officers where he was living or working, or with whom he was associating.

"They let him walk out of the office and five months later look what happened.

"He committed a parole violation. Instead of putting him back in jail, they let him out on the street.

"He shouldn't have been on the street."

Mr Couch said he had been trying to get an inquiry started for months but said "everyone had been running in circles and hiding because the (court) case has been in session".

"I want to know what they are going to do about it. I want to know who is responsible. I want to know when they are going to fire them and I want to know what sort of compensation there is going to be for all the families."

The Department of Corrections would not comment today on Mr Couch's claims.

A department spokesman said it could not comment on "any parolee's management while the offender is in the process of a court action -- including sentencing an appeal process".

Mr Couch also said victim support was deficient and he had been told he may have to wait up to eight hours -- even for telephone contact with a victim support counsellor.

Mr Couch said initially he was very angry with Bell but said he now considered him a victim of the system.

"There is nothing in place in the mental health/prison service to look after people like that.

"He is a homicidal, pathological killer. There is no doubt about that. That is what he was always going to be. It was not an accident.

"We don't need people like that on the streets.

"We need them either in protective custody or they need to bring back the death penalty to get rid of them."

He said Bell would never be good for anything and if he was ever released he would kill again.

Last night, a jury at the High Court in Auckland found Bell, 24, guilty of murdering Wayne Johnson, 56, Mary Hobson, 44, and Bill Absolum, 64, and the attempted murder of Susan Couch at the Mt Wellington-Panmure RSA on December 8 last year.

Bell's co-accused, Darnell Kere Tupe, 23, the getaway driver for the robbery, was found guilty of three counts of manslaughter and one count of aggravated robbery. The jury found him not guilty of murder or attempted murder.

Bell and Tupe are due to be sentenced on February 13.

Mr Couch said Bell's was a special case and would justify the return of the death penalty.

"If you take a gun to a crime you should get 10 years added to your sentence, even if you don't use it."

He said Bell had no disguise and the people inside knew him.

He meant to kill everyone and leave no witnesses.

He said he had yet to talk to Ms Couch since the jury decision, but the family was happy with the verdict.

Mr Johnson's brother Earl Johnson said the family was "pretty sad and pretty upset".

"It's had a pretty big impact on me and the family, I speak on behalf of everybody, because people no longer think they can go about their peaceful and pleasurable pursuits without somebody wanting to assault them or kill them," he told National Radio.

While Mr Johnson said the convictions were appropriate, he thought death would be a good sentence for Bell.

"I said... last night that really going back a number of years ago he would have gone to the gallows and I think that would have been a pretty good sentence for him.

"But times have changed and it won't happen now."

- NZPA