A man who was convicted of murdering his former partner - the mother of his three children - during a custody hearing has indicated he is seeking to have his conviction set aside.
John Harold La Roche was found guilty of stabbing and killing Margaret Bennellick while she waited in the foyer of a courtroom in Palmerston North in 1998.
He lost a subsequent appeal against that verdict and has failed in subsequent attempts to get parole.
His latest parole hearing has been deferred after he told the Parole Board he had approached a lawyer seeking to have his murder conviction set aside.
The board considered a letter from that lawyer, who said he had not yet received instructions and legal aid issues had not been resolved.
The board then deferred further consideration of the case until January.
