KEY POINTS:
The man who killed Liam Ashley in the back of a prison van was in custody because he had stabbed another North Shore youth and was threatening witnesses in the case.
The killer can now be revealed as hardened criminal George Charlie Baker, after a High Court suppression order covering his name and details of the stabbing was lifted.
Baker, who will be sentenced for Liam's murder this month, pleaded guilty in the High Court at Auckland this week to earlier charges of aggravated robbery and wounding with intent.
They were the charges Baker, 25, was facing when he bashed 17-year-old Liam and choked the life out of him in the Chubb prison van on August 24. They were placed in a compartment contrary to explicit regulations meant to keep adults and youths apart.
Details of the charges can now be revealed for the first time. They followed an attack on a youth in April, when it is understood Baker had been free for just three weeks after seven years in jail and psychiatric care for the violent invasion of a woman's home.
He and some others took the victim to Beach Haven wharf in the early hours of the morning after they hadall been at a party and tried to robhim.
The youth told police he was pinned to the ground with Baker holding a knife and saying he would stab him in the eye if he didn't hold still and slit his throat if he didn't hand over his wallet. The youth managed to throw them off but was stabbed in the back as he escaped.
Baker was found in his hometown of Whakatane a few days later, with nine cannabis tinnies on him.
He admitted the attack to a police officer. He also claimed to be an associate of the Black Power gang and nephew of Mike Te Pou, a Black Power member who is serving an 18-year sentence for a kidnapping and masterminding a home invasion.
In June, Baker sent a letter to his victim using pictures and words cut out of magazines that spelled out in graphic detail how he was going to kill the youth and his family, explaining how "he was going to finish what he had started and that this time he would kill the victim and his family using a gun".
After Baker's attack on Liam in the prison van, he referred to him as a nark and the Ashley family believe that is because he wrongly thought Liam might have been ready to give evidence in the robbery case.
