Notorious double murderer Graeme Burton has been caught with a knife in his prison cell - sparking a prison security investigation.

Soap's plot echoes the horrifying Sophie Elliott saga, which saw a young student brutally killed by her tutor.

The two surviving daughters of multiple-infant killer Dominique Cottrez describe her as a doting mother who selflessly devoted herself to her family.

A neighbour heard death threats coming from a Wellington council flat where a woman was brutally murdered.

Veronique Courjault was convicted last year of murdering three of her newborn children. Her husband discovered two of the corpses in a freezer.

Police say Allison McPhee, 42, whose body was found in a Wellington flat on Wednesday, died a violent death.

The killer of a 3-year-old boy continued to protest her innocence today as she began a life sentence for his murder.

Police hunting the killer of Manawatu farmer Scott Guy are canvassing local farmers in the hope of uncovering information about firearm thefts.

A mother-of-two is being hailed a hero after saving a woman from an attack by a hammer-wielding man who then pursued the pair and rammed her car during a violent car chase.

Police hunting the killer of farmer Scott Guy are frustrated with the lack of response to calls for information about two cars seen on the morning of his death.

A police officer was punched, stomped on and smashed in the face with his radio in Hawke's Bay this afternoon.

There has been no suggestion that dairy farmer Scott Guy or his wife were followed in the weeks before his murder but investigators would be remiss not to consider the possibility, police said today.