The mother of a tortured girl allegedly told authorities she was at a tangi 'down south' to prevent anyone seeing her injuries.

An Auckland couple were found dead in their home after a panicked 14-year-old called 111.

Amanda Knox's appeal against her 26-year sentence for the murder of Meredith Kercher received a massive boost yesterday.

Police were this afternoon continuing inquiries into events leading to the deaths of a man and a woman overnight after a reported domestic incident.

Sydney police have charged a Kings Cross hotel security guard, believed to be former high-profile rugby league player John Hopoate, following the serious assault of a man in a Kings Cross street.

There is extra security at Gisborne Hospital following a gang brawl between Black Power and the Mongrel Mob last night.

The widow of Feilding farmer Scott Guy, whose murder remains unsolved five months on, has issued a heartfelt plea for her husband's killer to come forward as the family faces its first Christmas without a husband and dad.

A 9-year-old girl found by police hiding in a wardrobe had suffered so much abuse that almost every part of her body was covered in injuries, including part of her scalp torn off her head as she was dragged down the hallway.

Police in Long Island, New York fear they may have a serial killer on their hands.

West Coast butcher Peter Lamont will spend a minimum of 14-and-a-half years behind bars after being imprisoned for life for murdering his wife Lindsay in their Ikamatua home last year.

The site where Mellory Manning was probably attacked was a gang 'pad' at the time of her murder, police say.

A man today admitted wounding two officers and killing a police dog during a confrontation in Christchurch in July, but denied charges of attempted murder.

Two police officers held a man down and kicked him before they pepper-sprayed his girlfriend, a court has been told.

Police officer Bruce Mellor, who was viciously attacked with a machete at the weekend, is steadily improving.