Police have admitted failing to seize a pair of boots they say Travis Burns was wearing when he allegedly bludgeoned Whangaparaoa woman Joanne McCarthy to death.
In the High Court at Auckland yesterday, Detective Sergeant Kim Libby said police took a pair of shoes during a search of Burns' Titirangi home, but the boots, which were photographed, were not seized.
Detective Sergeant Libby told crown prosecutor Christine Gordon that at the time they had no definite advice from scientists on the make of shoe which had left a print at the murder scene.
Cross-examined by Burns' lawyer, Barry Hart, the detective said the searching officers did not believe the boots matched the suspect prints.
In his opening address on Monday, Simon Moore, the Crown Solicitor for Auckland, told the jury that scientists had identified the prints as coming from an imported brand of Rivergum Classic boots.
It would have been ideal if they had been seized under warrant but they were not, he said.
When police returned after Burns' arrest three months later, the boots had disappeared.
There was evidence that Burns had bought such footwear from K-Mart in Henderson.
Police left without boot for print clue
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