New Zealand Parole Board -

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(2) of the Parole Act 2002

Ziggy Stardust BUCKERIDGE

Hearing: 3 September 2020

At Christchurch Men’s Prison

via AVL to New Zealand Parole Board Offices

Members of the Board: Sir Ron Young (Chairperson), Associate Professor P Brinded, Dr Greg Coyle, Mr B McMurray

DECISION OF THE BOARD

1. Mr Buckeridge is 58 years of age.  He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in 1992.  He is a minimum security classification.  He has three pages previous convictions involving two rapes, drug offending, and property offending.  He has had two recalls in 2005 and 2011.
2. We last saw him September 2019. At that stage he had made good progress but had been found using synthetic cannabis in 2017 and had been sent back to the main prison. When saw in September he had gone back to working outside the wire and was continuing to pursue his apprenticeship.  We thought then he needed an appropriate release plan.
3. As to the current position Mr Buckeridge is in (withheld) and has been supported by the (withheld).  He was on Release to Work working in the community at (withheld) and continuing to pursue is apprenticeship. Unfortunately there seems to have been some problems with the (withheld) workforce and his period on release to work was ended.  He is back in the prison undertaking timber processing. However he remains approved for release to work in appropriate circumstances
4. Mr Buckeridge seems to behave well in prison, he is a hard worker and has benefited from the (withheld) programme.
5. He is now being considered for release to the (withheld). They need to complete the appropriate interviews and if as a result it was an appropriate release address and programme, then following would be a period when he would have a number of releases to (withheld). Ultimately if the Board considered it appropriate a release to (withheld).
6. We agree that Mr Buckeridge  needs significant support for his release into the community. We also take into account the fact that he has had two releases and recalls previously.
7. There is one difficulty about release to (withheld). We understand that some of
   Mr Buckeridge’s victims also reside in (withheld).  We will need to take into account their views about a release to (withheld) for Mr Buckeridge.  We note that Mr Buckeridge's idea is that after a (withheld) release and completion he would move to (withheld) or somewhere in the North island for long term accommodation.
8. We think the way forward, therefore, now is as follows:
9. Firstly, we will make contact with the victims so that we can understand their view of a release to (withheld) for Mr Buckeridge.  In the meantime we asked Mr Buckeridge to focus on plan B for accommodation that is supported but away from (withheld). If the release is to be to (withheld) then there is likely to be very  restricted GPS monitoring of his whereabouts in (withheld). For example the restrictions might mean he would not be able to go beyond 100 or 200 metres from (withheld).  In the meantime he remains an undue risk, we will see him again by the end of March 2021.