A month after telling police he took part in the brutal murder of Christchurch prostitute Mellory Manning, Mongrel Mob prospect Mauha Fawcett backtracked on his story.

Murder victim Mellory Manning's DNA was found on a knife recovered just metres from where her body was dumped in a Christchurch river, a court heard today.

An extremely rare mutated grass pollen found on Mellory Manning's clothing matched samples taken from the Mongrel Mob gang pad where police say she was brutally murdered.

A man who hired sex worker Mellory Manning on the night she was killed was unable to reach her by text later that night, the High Court at Christchurch has been told.

Christchurch sex worker Mellory Manning had consumed a variety of drugs in the days and hours before she was brutally murdered, a jury has been told today.

A witness who sold drugs to slain Christchurch sex worker Mellory Manning has described hearing a "blood-curdling" scream coming from the direction of a Mongrel Mob gang pad the night Mellory Manning was killed.

Ngatai 'Mellory' Manning was raped, bashed, and stabbed at a Mongrel Mob gang pad before her mutilated body was dumped in a river, a court has heard today.

Serene and beautiful. You'll love this place, writes Elisabeth Easther.

A 20-year-old found guilty of stabbing his friend in the eye outside a Flockton Street party in Christchurch last year will be sentenced today.

A male has died in a suspicious fire at a Northern Canterbury sleepout today, police say.

A "couch bike" for sale on Trade Me is giving Cantabrians the option of holding red zone tours "without destroying the ozone layer".

Two pilots have died in separate incidents involving gliders in North Canterbury and South Auckland today.

Greg Dixon finds fine food, wonderful views and rusticating luxury at one of New Zealand newest luxury destinations.

Port of Tauranga has continued its national expansion by buying up 15ha of commercial land in Canterbury to create a new inland port.

Journalist Peter Robert Douglas, 35, was wheelchair-bound all his life, but managed to achieve an awful lot in his tiny frame.

A father and son have been found safe and well this morning after spending a night in a at the base of a cliff following a kayaking trip that went wrong off the Canterbury coast.

A real estate agent has had a charge of serious negligence overturned in the High Court at Auckland, after she challenged a Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal decision.

Christchurch police have released the name of the skateboarder killed in an accident in Loburn, north of Rangiora, last night.

A three-year jail sentence for a truck driver who targeted and tried to have sex with an 8-year-old girl is "adequate", her grandfather says.

Life is never dull on the road with Grant the Cook, writes Jason Burgess.