New Zealand Parole Board -

Parole hearing

Under section 21(1) of the Parole Act 2002

Peter Douglas LIDDELL

Hearing: 31 May 2016 at [withheld]

Members of the Board:

• Hon. MA Frater – Panel Convenor
• Assoc. Prof. P Brinded
• Mr J Thomson
• Mr L Tawera

In attendance:

• [withheld]

DECISION OF THE BOARD

1. Peter Douglas Liddell is serving a sentence of preventive detention, with a minimum non-parole period of five years, imposed in 2004, and confirmed the following year by the Court of Appeal, after he pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.  The victim was a 15 year old boy.

2. Mr Liddell has a history of sexual offending against prepubescent and adolescent males, starting in 1977.  His most recent convictions relate to offending which occurred between 1983 and 1985.  He was found guilty by a jury of that offending in 2013 and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

3. Mr Liddell has completed the [withheld] for child sex offenders twice: first in 1998 and, most recently, in 2012.

4. He has been housed [withheld] since June 2014.  Currently he is employed there as [withheld]. He attends regular meetings of the maintenance group.  He has not been mentioned in any incident or misconduct reports, is IDU free, and has maintained the minimum security classification he has held since September 2011.

5. Mr Liddell’s risk of sexual re-offending was assessed in 2015 as high, and that was confirmed this year.  Although he is now 71 years of age, given that he was 57 when he committed his most recent offences, age is not seen as a protective factor in his case.

6. However, the most significant stumbling block for Mr Liddell insofar as any release is concerned is his lack of non-agency community support.  He has no family support and although a large number of supporters wrote to the sentencing Judge, he has since distanced himself from those people as he does not want them involved.  His current release proposal is focused solely on the support which will be provided by [withheld], and [withheld].  Although he has been working with [withheld], and has also met with a police officer involved in the recently established [withheld], he has no other support in [withheld] or indeed anywhere in New Zealand.

7. In the circumstances he did not seek parole today.  Instead he sought the Board’s support for temporary removals to travel to [withheld] to meet with [withheld] and participate in a multi-disciplinary meeting.  We think that is precipitous.

8. In our view Mr Liddell continues to pose an undue risk and parole is declined.

9. If he remains in [withheld], his next hearing will be held during the week beginning 6 November 2017. In any event it must be held before the end of that month.

Hon. MA Frater
Panel Convenor