The burglar who died while wrestling with a pharmacist in the man's store was a former Te Puke man who killed a woman in a horrific Katikati road crash eight years ago.
Bruce Allan Jones, 43, died from a suspected heart attack after confronting Mt Albert pharmacist Grant Gillard early on
Tuesday.
Mr Gillard was securing his premises after being called to a break-in at the New North Rd property, which he and his wife Vera have owned since 1969. He encountered Jones as he was locking up, and a scuffle ensued.
It has been revealed that Jones was a career criminal, who had spent years in and out of prison.
His record includes a 30-month sentence in 2003 for causing a fatal car crash just south of Katikati, while high on a cocktail of cannabis, methadone and tranquillisers.
The crash, on March 28, 2002, happened on SH2 near Wharawhara Rd.
Jones, who lived in Te Puke at the time, was driving to Auckland with his partner when the crash took place.
As they passed through Te Puna, they stopped to pick up some cannabis and shared a joint with two other people.
Jones swerved across the road several times, causing other motorists to take evasive action. At one stage he drove in the wrong lane for 200m, and reached speeds of up to 120km/h.
Just south of Katikati, he swerved across the centre line and collided with another vehicle, killing the driver, Lorraine Joyce Hodgson.
The crash broke his legs and jaw, and seriously injured his partner, Melanie Jones.
He said he had no memory of the collision, but his driving had been "disgusting" and he "wished it was me that had been killed".
His lawyer at the time, Matthew Goodwin, remembered him as a "troubled character" who suffered from a combination of drug use and sports-related head injuries.
Jones continued to amass burglary and theft convictions following his release from prison. He was jailed again in 2008, in Hamilton, for three burglary offences. Jones was also due in Manukau District Court yesterday to answer a charge of receiving stolen goods.
The Gillards were yesterday recovering at home.
Mrs Gillard said the phone "rang all night" with well-wishers, but the family wanted privacy. - APN
