Until Kim Perks stepped across the Essex-Cambridgeshire border, the latter's force had blundered badly by withholding information from the press that could have led to a speedier, public-assisted arrest. For the record, it was the girls' school caretaker who "dun it".
A journalist herself, Kim Perks knows what it is that makes news and, as a 20-year police media veteran, how to balance the fine line between the public's right to know and letting slip something that could compromise an investigation.
Is it permissible then to call her the coppers' spin doctor? Heaven forbid. "To me it's become synonymous with deceit. . . the success of my role isn't on how creative I can be with words, it's based on forging trusted and respected relationships with colleagues, media, families, victims and communities, that's something I pride myself on."
Deceit's something Kim Perks can never be accused of. With the media she's open and honest, the ongoing Taiaroa probe a case in point.
Coincidentally it's her husband, Taupo CIB head Detective Senior Sergeant Graham Perks, who's leading the inquiry. Before you ask yes, as a couple working in different facets of the same field they do have professional differences "now and then".
Unsurprisingly the Perks' became an item "on the job". She was the media's go-to person in what remains the unsolved murder of a night club bouncer, he was the victim's family liaison officer.
An East Londoner, but not an Eastender in the Cockney sense of the term, her reporting career began by breaking a major story while on work experience "because all the regular staff were on strike".
Until then she'd been told she was too introverted to make it in frontline journalism. She insists she's still shy, if so it doesn't show.
By the time the police poached her she'd become an award-winning associate editor within a large newspaper group.
As press officer with the Essex police she was thrust into the midst of a "challenging multi-cultural society, an area renowned for its fair share of C list celebs and something of a haven for London criminals who thought they'd made good by buying Essex mansions".
Crime was, she says, much as it is worldwide "drugs, family disputes, violence, drunk driving, occasional homicides".
That ratcheted up when nearby Stanstead airport was designated the UK centre for handling hijackings. Kim Perks was at the sharp end of two; passengers and crew were being held hostage on both.
The international media poured in. The tenor of media liaison officer Perks' words was crucial: "You never know what access hijackers have to the media and what their reaction will be towards hostages if they read something that angers them and of course political sensitivities have to be considered."
Both standoffs ended without shots fired but for three days Perks' phone didn't leave her hand.
By 2007 she was Essex police's principal press officer, leading a team of seven "seven days a week 24/7, developing a live-to-work mentality."
Her husband had been daydreaming of an overseas move. Outdoorsy New Zealand appealed, his ability to transfer an added attraction. Shortly after their 2008 arrival the police central district wanted a press officer, Kim was the perfect fit.
Wasn't middle New Zealand dreadfully quiet after the cut and thrust of big British crime stories?
Far from it, it was there she ran the media side of one of this country's biggest crime stories for years - the Scott Guy murder inquiry.
In addition, there were a couple of plane crashes to deal with. Seconded to Christchurch following the February 'quake she worked ten straight nightshifts, back in familiar territory catering for differing time zone deadlines.
Her introduction to the Bay of Plenty district was via another international headline-grabbing case - the 2011 Turangi rape of a 5-year-old visiting from Europe. She 'copped' that by default, the local district's media staffer was on leave.
"After working with a fantastic team in Turangi I suggested if she was ever going to move on to let me know, a few months later she did. When I said I was Bay of Plenty-bound people assumed it was Tauranga but unless you're a surfer Rotorua's got so much more to offer. Here your lifestyle's right on your doorstep."
And crime? "That's been very media intensive."
Kim Perks
Born: Walthamstow London,1968
Education: Local primary and secondary schools. Open University, graduating BA with honours in psychology "because I was working while studying it really taught me discipline and self motivation"
Family: Husband Graham Perks, parents retired in France, brother in UK, two dogs
Interests: Running "not the triathlons my husband's addicted to", cooking, "being English I make a grand curry", interior decorating "I find DIY very therapeutic"
On the difference between the British and NZ media: "I'd say here they're less aggressive than in the UK."
Personal philosophy: "Treat others as you wish to be treated."
