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Offender Databases Richard Finlay

Richard James Thomas Finlay

Alias

.

Offences

Beat his 8 week old daughter to death in New Plymouth in December 1986

Victims

Eva Maria Finlay

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1943

Current Location

At large

Parole/Release Dates

Was sentenced to life (ten years at that time) in March 1988
Paroled February 2002

Background
From a Sunday Star Times article 10/02/2002
A MAN convicted of the murder of his baby daughter and who twice escaped from prison has been released. Richard James Thomas Finlay was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988 for bashing to death his eight-week-old daughter in New Plymouth. The Parole Board would not comment on Finlay's release last month or his parole conditions. However, Wanganui police confirmed one of the conditions was he stay away from the town because an ex-partner, who had been notified of his parole, lived there. They could not say who the woman was. Finlay's 17-year imprisonment - and his two breaks for freedom during that time - made headlines.

New Plymouth police launched a nationwide hunt for Finlay and his then wife, Gwenda Ruth Finlay, a week after discovering their dead baby, Eva Maria, in their home in December 1986. They were found on January 7, 1987 at Mt Maunganui and Finlay was later charged with the murder. He claimed the killing was "the will of God". The coroner found Eva Maria had extensive bruising and was so badly beaten her skull fractured in two places, and one of the head blows caused a clot to form which swelled and eventually killed her. Two trials were aborted before a third trial convicted Finlay of the murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment in Auckland 's maximum security prison at Paremoremo in 1987.

He was transferred to Hastings ' Mangaroa Prison in 1990 and in 1992 he wrote to a newspaper claiming he was collecting stamps inside his new prison cell to raise money for Somalian famine relief. But in 1994 Finlay escaped while working in a garden outside Mangaroa Prison by walking out a gate. He was found the next day cold and hungry on a roadside. In 1998 he was granted a temporary release to work in the community and was employed at a security-approved business, when he failed to return to the prison. He was found nearly a year later in Queenstown. He was not considered dangerous by police, and Finlay said he was too scared to return from day leave because of threats inside the prison. By the time of his escape he had served 16 years. He had almost completed his life sentence and was eligible for parole. But in February 2000 he was jailed for a year on the escaping charge.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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