Warrick Adkin: Detective Inspector on the ongoing investigation into Arthur Easton's killer

Police are going back through Arthur Easton's case file - looking for the person who killed him nearly 40 years ago.

Easton was stabbed in his Papakura home in 1985.

Alan Hall's wrongful murder conviction was only overturned after he'd spent 19 years in jail.

Police are now offering a $100,000 reward - until January 24 - for information leading to a conviction.

Detective Inspector Warrick Adkin says interviews are under way.

"As investigators, we have a responsibility to look at all options when solving crime, and today's announcement, we hope, will provide the financial incentive to those people who have not shared any information to come forward."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heller Do for see.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Allen Police are offering one hundred thousand dollars reward to
anyone with information that can help solve the nineteen eighty
five murder of Arthur Easton and Papacua and Auckland. The
Eastern murder investigation is open again because the man who
was jailed for nineteen years for his murder, Alan Hall,
has proven that he was actually wrongfully convicted. Police Detective
Inspector Warwick Atkin is in charge.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
A Warwick after name Heather Wawick.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
This was forty years ago. I mean this is a
long shot, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah. Look, we're hoping that the reward announcement today is
a significant amount of money and we have that that
will be the incentive for people who do have information
in the community to come forward and help us solve
this matter so we can provide the Eastern family some answers.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
So, are you basically looking for an arc? Is that
what it is?

Speaker 1 (00:46):
We're looking for anyone with credible information to come forward
and if that information leads to the arrest and successful
conviction of the person responsible for Arthur, then they may
be eligible for the reward.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Is are you doing this because you seriously think that
this actually can result in a prosecution in somebody coming forward,
or is it more likely just something you've got to do.
Now you've accepted that the wrong guy went behind bars,
got to try and find the right guy. So you
do this, go through the motion, nothing happens, close the case.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, Look, a reward announcement can happen at any stage
during an investigation. As investigators, we have a responsibility to
look at all options when solving crime, and today's announcement,
I hope we'll provide the financial incentive to those people
who have not shared any information to date to come

(01:37):
forward and inspect us.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Do you have I mean you say that you're speaking
to people who you spoke to back in the eighties.
Have you got a long list of people who you
had on the suspect list or their associates list, or
you know, is it a big group of people you're
going back to. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Look, we're doing a full review of the file and
we're speaking to a number of people, not only persons
of it, but also witnesses.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Right, and how many Bayonets. By the way, The interesting
thing about it is that whoever went and went in
with a bayonet. How many bayonets you reckon? They were
in the country in the eighties.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
The bayonet in question here we still have in our position,
and that is a Swedish ninety six bayonet which was
used by the Swedish Army. It's an eighteen ninety six model.
Several hundred of those were imported into New Zealand as
suplus stock and generally sold in hunting and outdoor stores.

(02:35):
And I'm hoping with the images that we're provided to
the media today of the woolen hat and the bayonet
will prompt people's memory and they can come forward and
tell us what they know.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Wawick, thanks very much. Warwick ad can New Zealand Police
Detective Inspector.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
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