Larnoch Road murders

The Larnoch Road murders is a controversial murder case in Auckland, New Zealand which led to a lengthy miscarriage of justice. On 21 August 1989, Deane Wade Fuller-Sandys, a 21-year-old Auckland tyre-fitter, left home to go fishing. He never returned. His body was never found and authorities initially believed he probably drowned after being swept out to sea at West Auckland's Whatipu Beach, where his car was discovered shortly afterwards. An old friend of Fuller-Sandys later told police that he may have committed suicide, as he had just broken up with his girlfriend.

Five days later, on 26 August 1989, Leah Romany Stephens, a 20-year old Auckland sex worker, also disappeared. Her skeletal remains were discovered in a forest near the Muriwai Golf Course three years later, in June 1992. Police enquiries at the time did not lead to an arrest in her case either. It was not until police received a tip-off years later that the two deaths might be related that Fuller-Sandys' disappearance was upgraded to a murder inquiry. After a two-year investigation, another sex worker, Gail Maney, was convicted of commissioning Stephen Stone, a gang member, to kill Fuller-Sandys over what was portrayed as a drug-related dispute.

The murders allegedly took place in Larnoch Road in the suburb of Henderson where Maney used to live. Stone was also convicted of the rape and murder of Leah Stephens, who police claimed was a witness to the killing of Fuller-Sandys. Two other men were also convicted of being accessories to the murder of Fuller-Sandys by disposing of his body.

The case is controversial because of the decade-long gap between the crime and the conviction, the securing of a conviction despite a lack of forensic evidence, and the legal immunity granted to key witnesses. The case is also contentious as Maney continues to state she is innocent and that she never even met Fuller-Sandys, and because two key witnesses who testified at the trial have since recanted their original trial testimony. After 30 years, Steven Stone has also appealed his convictions. Private investigator Tim McKinnel refers to this case as "the greatest miscarriage of justice ever seen in New Zealand" and in July 2024, the Crown finally conceded that a miscarriage had occurred.

Police investigation

In early 1997, Auckland police began to receive information that the disappearances of Deane Fuller-Sandys and Leah Stephens were connected – through their association with Gail Denise Maney. Maney (born c. 1967) was a sex worker and said to be in a relationship with Stephen Ralph Stone (born 1969), who had gang affiliations. She lived in a rental at 22 Larnoch Road, Henderson. Police claimed that Fuller-Sandys sometimes attended parties there and allegedly sold drugs to Gail Maney. In August 1989, when Maney and the other occupants were out, the place was burgled. Leather goods, money, and drugs were stolen. Based on a description of the burglar provided by a neighbour, police claimed that Maney believed it was Fuller-Sandys and persuaded Stone to kill him.

Police were told that Fuller-Sandys was enticed to come to Larnoch Road on 21 August 1989 on his way to go fishing. When he arrived, he was attacked by Stone who then shot him in front of at least eight witnesses, among whom was Leah Stephens. Stone allegedly passed the gun to each of four male witnesses, including Maney's younger brother Colin Neil Maney (born c. 1971) and a mutual acquaintance, Mark William Henriksen (born c. 1967), and directed them to fire bullets into the body to make them complicit in the murder. The men allegedly disposed of Fuller-Sandys' body in Woodhill Forest, although subsequent police searches failed to discover his remains. His vehicle was supposedly left at Whatipu Beach to make it appear he had drowned there. The police claimed that five days later, Stone, believing that Leah Stephens was likely to inform police of the murder of Fuller-Sandys, raped and then murdered her with a knife at 22 Larnoch Road.

During the course of the investigation, the lead detective on the case, Mark Franklin, was discovered by other police officers sharing a joint in downtown Auckland. The incident could have ended Franklin's career, but he spoke to his supervisor about it before the other officers reported him and he was let off with a warning. The investigation continued for two years, after which Maney and Stone were arrested and charged with murdering Fuller-Sandys at Maney's home in Larnoch Road. Stone was also charged with the rape and murder of Stephens. Colin Maney and Mark Henriksen were charged with being accessories to the murder of Fuller-Sandys. All four denied the charges.

First trial

The trial was held in March 1999 at Auckland's High Court. The Crown was unable to produce a body (in the case of Fuller-Sandys) or any forensic evidence such as DNA, blood-matches or weapons. The prosecution case was based entirely on the testimony of four people who claimed to have been present: two men and two women who were interviewed eight or more years after Fuller-Sandys and Stephens disappeared. The Crown claimed that Stone shot Fuller-Sandys with a revolver in front of 10 people crowded into a small garage – with the door open wide; and that he then passed the gun to four other men to fire shots into the body, so they would be implicated as well.

The two men who claimed to have participated in the shooting of Fuller-Sandys, also claimed they had also disposed of Stephens' body at Muriwai. They were granted name suppression and immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony. One of them was given $30,000 and a new identity. The two women later recanted their statements, saying the police threatened to have their children removed from them unless they went along with the police narrative.

During the trial, lead investigator Mark Franklin was strongly challenged by defence lawyers over whether he had bullied witnesses, or pressured them to change their stories to match a predetermined police narrative. He denied these allegations. However, private investigator Tim McKinnel subsequently said: "There are concerns around some of the witnesses and their credibility and reliability. There are a number of wavering versions of events before a final version of events is settled on and we've seen that in cases before … Those sorts of things are concerning and I have questions around the way those statements and that evidence was collected over a period of time."

Verdicts

After two days' deliberation, the jury found Stone and Gail Maney guilty of the murder of Fuller-Sandys. Stone was also found guilty of the rape and murder of Stephens. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment. Stone also received a 10-year concurrent sentence for raping Stephens. Colin Maney and Mark Henriksen were convicted of being accessories to the murder of Fuller-Sandys by helping to dispose of his body. Henriksen was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, while Colin Maney (the youngest of the accused) received a two-year suspended sentence.

Subsequent events

Appeals and retrial

Gail Maney and Mark Henriksen appealed their convictions and were granted a retrial on the grounds that the original trial judge had not adequately summed up the case for their defence to the jury. However, both were again found guilty at their retrial in June 2000. During the retrial, one of the key male witnesses with name suppression was asked by a defence lawyer whether he had ever asked for $30,000 to come back from overseas to give evidence. The witness said "Yes... to cover my costs, losing work."

In 2005, Gail Maney filed another appeal after one of the key female witnesses recanted her original trial testimony implicating Maney, but this appeal was also rejected.

Three prominent defence lawyers, criminal barrister Julie-Anne Kincade, Nicholas Chisnall, and Aieyah Shendi, agreed to represent her as she continues fighting to clear her name for a murder she says she did not commit. Private investigator Tim McKinnel has also agreed to assist. In December 2023, a recall application was filed on Maney's behalf asking the court to retract their 2005 decision dismissing her original appeal against her murder conviction.

In addition to the fact that two key witnesses have since recanted, McKinnel said one of the most concerning aspects of the appeal in 2005 was that "the trial judge from her 1999 trial, who was criticised in her 1999 appeal appeared on the appeal bench in 2005."

Parole

Maney was paroled in 2010. She was recalled two years later before being re-released in 2016. The following year she was recalled for a short period once again. Corrections alleged she breached a condition not to possess or consume alcohol or illicit drugs. She served a total of 15 years in prison, and unless her conviction is overturned, will remain on parole for the rest of her life.

Although Stephen Stone admitted to the killing of Fuller-Sandys during a restorative justice meeting with Fuller-Sandys' family in 2010, he subsequently recanted this confession and reverted to his claims of innocence. Stone was declined parole in December 2017, and will not be eligible for parole again until November 2019. In August 2020, he filed an appeal against his convictions.

Media interest

In 2018, Radio New Zealand and Stuff released a podcast documentary about the case, Gone Fishing. Subjects interviewed included Gail Maney, some of the key witnesses, and the former detective who led the police investigation, Mark Franklin. Franklin's reputation had been damaged after he was jailed for twelve months in the Cook Islands for selling cannabis to an undercover police officer there in 2010.

Miscarriage of justice

In February 2024, the Court of Appeal agreed to hear the case for a third time. Then in July 2024, the Crown agreed that the convictions constituted a miscarriage of justice because two significant documents were withheld from the defence team by the Crown at the trials in 1999 and 2000 and should have been disclosed. However, the Court of Appeal still has to decide whether to overturn the convictions.

Concerns about the case

Lack of forensic evidence

Fuller-Sandys' body has never been found. Despite a two-year investigation (eight years after Fuller-Sandys' disappearance), the Crown was unable to produce any forensic evidence such as DNA, blood-matches or weapons. Lead investigator, detective senior sergeant Mark Franklin (who was subsequently convicted for drug dealing), said "This was a case where there's no forensics; we didn't have scenes, we didn't have bodies, and [for] the evidence we relied totally on criminal associates who were involved in the crimes. That was probably one of the most challenging things." According to Tim McKinnel, who had worked to overturn the wrongful conviction of Teina Pora: "There is not a scrap of physical evidence to support the contention that Fuller-Sandys was murdered..."

Participants granted immunity

Two men who claimed to have participated in the murders occurred were granted immunity and given name suppression. In the podcast Gone Fishing,  they were referred to by the pseudonyms "Neil" and "Martin". Martin was also given $30,000 and a new identity under the witness protection scheme. At the trial, the two men admitted to being among the eight people in the garage in Larnoch Road where Fuller-Sandys is said to have been shot. They said they helped bury Fuller-Sandys' body in dense bush somewhere in West Auckland and also claimed to be present when Leah Stephens was raped and murdered.

Doubts about the reliability of this evidence were raised after they appeared to have no knowledge of the crimes despite repeated questioning by police during the investigation. They each told different versions about what happened; they gave the police three different locations for the murder of Leah Stephens, and they only reached agreement after police showed them parts of each other's video interviews and statements.

'Martin' actually told police he couldn't remember what happened. At one point during the investigation, he spent half an hour alone with Franklin, one of the lead detectives on the case. Immediately afterwards, he revised his statement to say he remembered both crimes – which helped the police tie the two cases together. Speaking to Stuff for the podcast Gone Fishing  27 years later, he said: "I had no knowledge of the events" claiming he only remembered what happened after he went to a hypnotist.

Commenting on the case, Tim McKinnel wondered whether the Solicitor General was aware that Neil and Martin had given between 15 and 20 different versions of events before granting them immunity for rape and murder. Law Professor Chris Gledhill, said "[Neil and Martin appear to] have participated in more criminality than was alleged against Miss Maney and you shouldn't give immunity to people who could be a greater risk to public safety than the person they are giving evidence against."

Two 'witnesses' retract

Two women who testified that they were present when Fuller-Sandys was killed have subsequently retracted their statements. In February 2005 at a Court of Appeal hearing, Tania Wilson said she gave false evidence at Maney's two trials which implicated Maney in the killing of Fuller-Sandys. She said the police put her under pressure to testify against Maney. The court decided she was unreliable, believing she may have colluded with Maney and 'cooked up' this story while they were in the same prison in 2000. The Crown produced an affidavit from a police Inspector, W Searle, who said that a Corrections Officer, Dave Kupenga, had called him warning that the two women were in adjacent cells in Mt Eden Women's Prison.

Kupenga subsequently told RNZ "I never did anything of the sort," suggesting someone had either impersonated him or used his name to provide false evidence. Prison documents obtained by RNZ also revealed Maney was "in an entirely different part of the prison" to Wilson and the two would have had "no opportunity to have any interaction". The Court was unaware of this at the time and dismissed Maney's appeal. Wilson has since died.

In July 2019, a second woman, who has name suppression and gave evidence in the trial that convicted Gail Maney, said she lied to police that she was present after being "threatened and harassed" by police. She said the police never interviewed her until 1997, eight years after Fuller-Sandys went missing, and that police pressured her by coming to her house in "marked and unmarked cars, sometimes in large numbers. They would search my house, (and) told me that they were going to make my life a misery if I didn't start playing ball, which meant admitting to my so-called role in his murder." She said she gave a false statement after police threatened to take away her young child but added: "My view was that he wasn't murdered and he was washed off the rocks fishing."

The second woman's story has been corroborated by Andrew Thompson, a former Henderson Police officer, who picked up the witness after she was interviewed by detectives investigating the death of Deane Fuller-Sandys and drove her to the airport. Thompson said she told him during the drive that she and the other woman had lied to detectives about being present when the alleged murder took place. Tim McKinnel who has been looking into the case told The New Zealand Herald he believed Thompson's account because it was consistent with other information he has.

Detective convicted of drug dealing

Detective senior sergeant Mark Franklin smoked cannabis during his time as a police officer, including while working on this particular case. He took early retirement on psychological grounds and, in 2013, was sent to prison in the Cook Islands for nine months for selling cannabis. His lawyer told the court that Franklin had been a long-time user of cannabis, and smoked it to deal with job-related stress. He was subsequently deported back to New Zealand.

When interviewed for the Gone Fishing podcast in 2018, Franklin claimed he was "very focussed" during the investigation into the case, but added: "I'm not saying the police got it 100 percent right."

External links

• Gone Fishing, 2018 Radio New Zealand documentary about the case.
• Leah Romany Stephens at BillionGraves