The Associate Health Minister says he is confident it is safe for a schizophrenic man who beat a friend to death to be out unescorted in public, despite the victim's brother's pleas.

A schizophrenic man who beat a friend to death after being released from psychiatric care - despite telling staff he wanted to kill someone - is allowed back into the community without supervision.

Rochelle Crewe fears a police refusal to open a new inquiry into the unsolved murder of her parents is a "continuation of police seeking to avoid the truth".

Arthur Allan Thomas - wrongfully imprisoned for the Crewe murders - says he expects a police reassessment of the case to be a cover-up.

The man wrongfully convicted of the Crewe murders has welcomed news police will review the case, but is not expecting much to come from it.

The mother of a man killed by a driver trying to escape a brawl says his death has left an unseen hole in her heart.

A man who drove into the path of a freight train killing his son and injuring two of his daughters and a niece was today jailed for three years.

Greg Meads enjoyed his final months of freedom in a plush beachfront home with another woman before being convicted of murder.

A trial hopes to solve a nine-year-old mystery surrounding the disappearance of a young US government intern.

Kimberley White remembers her stepfather Greg Meads enforcing silent meals at the family dinner table as he watched television.

The identity of the man accused of bludgeoning gangland murderer Carl Williams to death has been revealed.

Distraught family of slain Matamata mother Helen Meads say they are relieved her husband has been found guilty of her murder.

Were prison guards playing a game of indoor cricket when Victorian gangland hitman Carl Williams was bashed to death?

The Crown has conceded there was a miscarriage of justice in the trial of a musician convicted of assaulting his son.

A male police officer was allegedly bitten by a drunk woman as he took her to the police station, leaving him requiring medical attention.

An attack on two firefighters was an isolated incident despite a rise in assaults on emergency workers, the Fire Service says.

The man who helped two police officers attacked in Alexandra says he is not a hero and would do it again.

A volunteer firefighter was kicked in the head by drunken party goers when emergency services went to a false report of a car crash in the Marlborough Sounds this morning, say police.

A top police officer has been injured in an apparent road rage clash.

Radio Sport is having to hire a new producer because no one wants to work with the controversial broadcaster.