Tauranga woman's killing features in Sensing Murder star's book

Sensing Natasha author Scott Russell Hill with Natasha Hayden's parents Brian and Lynette Brown at their Pyes Pa home. Photo / Sandra Conchie

The killing of Natasha Hayden at Tauranga's McLaren Falls was something Sensing Murder star Scott Russell Hill struggled to get over - even when he'd never meet her before. Sandra Conchie reports why he has written a book about her death, and what her family think of it.An Australian psychic says the ghost of a Tauranga woman killed at McLaren Falls haunted him so much, he has now written a book about her death.

Sensing Natasha is about Scott Russell Hill's journey before, during and after the day that brought Natasha Hayden and her "beautiful family" into his life.

Hill launched the book at a small private gathering of family and friends of Natasha at her parents Brian and Lynette Brown's home in Pyes Pa over the weekend.

Their 24-year-old daughter was strangled to death by Tauranga man Michael Curran at McLaren Falls on January 10, 2005.

Four months later, Hill was at McLaren Falls Park filming an episode of the hit crime TV series Sensing Murder after flying to New Zealand from Australia.

Natasha came through like a bomb blast ...

It was his first visit to New Zealand and he only knew he was heading to Tauranga after being handed a boarding pass at Auckland airport, he said.

Hill said this particular episode wasn't about Natasha but, as filming continued, she "dramatically stepped forward" from the spirit world and let him know she was there.

Overwhelmed by the strong presence of a dead girl in a red car and a birthday cake, he instantly got upset and told the show's producers "just get me out of here", he said.

"Natasha came through like a bomb blast ... I felt overwhelmingly sad and couldn't wait to leave that awful place."

Natasha Hayden, 24, was killed on January 10, 2005 at McLaren Falls. Photo / File

Brian Brown said the relevance of the cake was that it was Natasha's job to organise her parents' birthday cakes, and she had ordered a cake for his birthday on January 11.

Brian said he was "chuffed" when Hill told them he wanted to write his next book about Natasha and the famous Australian case of the Beaumont children's disappearance.

"I used to be the biggest sceptic until I watched that Sensing Murder episode and I was blown away. I had no idea who this person was or how he could know the things he did.

"People can believe what they like, but I know what I know and Scott has shared things with us that no one else knew outside of our family," he said.

Brian said he may be a bit bias but he believed Sensing Natasha was Hill's best book.

"I also believe the passage of time does heal wounds, and it is easier to talk about today, but not a day goes by that we don't think about Tash and what might have been."

Hill said he's honoured to have a "special connection" to Natasha's "beautiful family".

"It took me six months to write Sensing Natasha, and a framed photograph of her given to me by Brian and Lynette sat on my desk every day of that journey," he said.

"It's a book I'm proud of as it helps keep Natasha's memory alive for her family and her friends," he said.

Michael Curran is serving a life sentence for the manslaughter of Natasha and also for the murder of 2-year-old Tauranga toddler Aaliyah Morrissey, who died on September 15, 2005.

Sensing Natasha is available in paperback, audio and Kindle versions via Hill's website.