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Offender Databases John Ericson

John Frederick Ericson

Alias

.

Offences

Murdered his wife Sandra Ericson with a tomahawk in Blenheim in July 1999
Escaped from a work detail outside Wellington Prison in November 2007

Victims

Sandra Ericson

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1961

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to life (ten years) in April 2000
Parole application rejected May 2010
Has next hearing May 2011

Background
NZ Herald story here
From the Dominion 20/04/2000
A Blenheim man who admitted murdering his wife had no recollection of striking the fatal blows, the High Court at Christchurch was told yesterday.

John Frederick Ericson, 37, unemployed, was sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment by Justice Panckhurst. Ericson had attacked his wife, Sandra, on July 31 while she was asleep in bed, striking her 22 times in the back of the head with a hatchet. Ericson rang police after the attack. Defence counsel Philip Hall said Ericson had no recollection of striking the fatal blows but had no doubt he was responsible. He was deeply troubled by the incident and expressed regret to all concerned. He had loved his wife and was at a loss to know why he had attacked her. Ericson had psychological problems that needed treatment, and he hoped that as he gained insight into his condition others would be helped, Mr Hall said.

TVNZ story here
Despite this offender being described as dangerous and given the extremely violent nature of the murder conviction, the Public Prison Service classified him and put him in minimum security as the prison service considered him a low risk to the community. He was on the run for 26 hours from 2nd to 3rd of November 2007. He is now back in custody

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Corrections and Additional Information
We endeavour to make this database as accurate as possible, but we are at the mercy of whatever information we can find in various online and offline archives. We rely on the public - that is, people like you - to fill in the gaps that we cannot. If you wish to submit additional information or a correction to this file CLICK HERE . Privacy: Trust policy is that all sources are treated as strictly confidential unless we are explicitly told otherwise. If you wish to see a file removed from this database certain conditions must be met by the offender set out HERE Note that this does NOT apply for those that are the primary offender in a murder, rape, or any sexual offending involving minors. We do not enter into correspondence regarding the guilt/innocence of offenders. Such correspondence is not responded to, especially if the offender concerned has a number of prior convictions

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