A former prostitute, who was paid $2.5 million by ASB fraudster Stephen Versalko, was in the Auckland High Court this week to make a deal with the bank over the money.

John Skinner turned his back to the courtroom and gestured defiantly after being found guilty of murdering a police officer.

John Skinner, 38, and Iain Clegg, 36, denied murdering Sergeant Don Wilkinson and attempting to murder another police officer.

The jury will continue deliberating the fate of the men accused of killing undercover police officer Sergeant Don Wilkinson in the morning.

Two men accused of killing an undercover cop were fit, young men who decided to take the law into their own hands, a court hears.

A sexual abuse trial was aborted after a juror revealed he became aroused while listening to evidence from the alleged victims.

Herald reporter Derek Cheng spends a night in Unit 11 at Rimutaka Prison, the country's first unit built from old shipping containers.

Herald reporter Derek Cheng gets a first look at the container cells at Rimutaka Prison's new unit.

Andrew Laxon writes of the moment when the two adversaries in the Crewe murder case came face to face in a Pukekohe pub.

Phil Goff rejected mayoral pleas to reduce the height of the Mt Eden Prison development when he was Minister of Corrections in 2007.

The three-strikes legislation will become law, after the National-Act Party bill passed its third reading in Parliament last night.

After strong opposition from Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party the 'three strikes' bill went through its third reading on a vote of 63-58.

Rapist Maka Renata is arrested in Gisborne after almost a month on the run.

An undercover officer says he took secret equipment from a slain colleague because he didn't want it falling into the wrong hands.