Anna Leask, specialist in crime and justice reporting for New Zealand’s Herald, has covered some of New Zealand’s biggest events, incidents, tragedies and disasters.

I’m Anna Leask - Senior Journalist and Crime and Justice Specialist. From a young age, I was an avid storyteller and writer so it was no surprise to anyone when I chose journalism as a career. I studied Mass Communications and Sociology at Canterbury University before completing a Post-Graduate Diploma in Journalism in 2005. This led me to my first job at The Star in Christchurch. I spent two years there, covering all things crime and court and then made the move to the Herald on Sunday. In 2010, I became a police reporter, a role that soon came to be much more about broader crime and justice issues and particularly the people involved. I’ve covered some of the most high profile crimes and events New Zealand has seen. To name a few, the Pike River mine disaster; the Christchurch quakes; and the unprecedented four-day sentencing of the gunman responsible for the 2019 terror attack. Alongside my daily reporting I write, host and produce monthly episodes for the chart-topping podcast A Moment In Crime which won a silver award in the true crime category at the inaugural New Zealand Podcast Awards in 2021.