11 Aug 2010

Tamihere being prepared for release

1:04 pm on 11 August 2010

Convicted double murderer David Tamihere is being prepared for release from prison.

Tamihere has served 21 years for the murders of Swedish backpackers Heidi Paakkonen and Urban Hoglin in Coromandel in 1989.

In November, when Tamihere last came before the Parole Board, it criticised the Corrections Department for not facilitating any home leaves for him.

Since then, the board says, Tamihere has been home on a number of occasions, all of which have gone well.

The board says he has made remarkable changes since graduating from the adult sex offenders programme in May and is now very open about all aspects of his past.

At last week's parole hearing a family plan for Tamihere's release was presented which has won the Parole Board's support, but it has adjourned a decision on any prison release until November, when a full residential restrictions report and an updated psychological report are expected.