Repeat offender pens bribe to avoid prison

PROTECTED BY ALIASES: Jordan Young was treated as a first offender after relocating to Nelson with a new identity under the police witness protection programme in 2006. Photo/Supplied.

A man convicted of manslaughter and who was living under a new name was yesterday sentenced to more jail time after attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Jordan Mitchell Young, 34, appeared in the Napier District Court before Judge Tony Adeane after penning a letter to his friend asking him to take the rap for a number pf offences he was charged with.

In his letter, which was found while Young was being prepared for transport from the Hawke's Bay Prison to the Hastings District Court in April last year, he offered his friend $10000 to lie and also said "Bro pretty much whatever you want name the price."

Young and an associate were found parked in a Hastings driveway last year with property taken in burglaries from Hastings, Waipukurau and Palmerston North.

They were both arrested and Young was charged with a number of charges including burglary, theft of an ex car and driving while disqualified.

The letter outlined Young's intention to give the letter to his lawyer to post to his friend.

He finished the letter by writing "Destroy this letter Bro."

Young's defence lawyer Matthew Phelps initially stated the charge Young faced "strikes at the heart of the justice system" but explained that it was ultimately never going to see the light of day.

Phelps said in the context of a meth addiction Young had made bad decisions in regards to the letter. He also said Young had "demons that had over-shadowed his potential".

Crown prosecutor Cameron Stuart said Young's intentions were an elaborate and calculated attempt to get away "scot-free".

He said "in this day and age people may do anything for the right price" and put forward a starting point of two and a half to three years' imprisonment.

At sentencing yesterday Judge Adeane raised Young's criminal past which included killing a young woman in a head-on collision in Nelson in December 2006.

Young's long history of criminal offences spans back to December 2005 when we was convicted of burglary and dishonesty offences under the name Jonathan Barclay and received a custodial sentence.

In July 2006 he was released on parole and relocated to Nelson with a new identity under the police witness protection programme.

After being convicted of serious driving offences under his real name in October he was disqualified from driving for 18 months and given a final warning.

However in November, just one month later, he was convicted of drink driving under his new identity and treated as a first offender; receiving a $500 fine and disqualified from driving for six months.

And in December Young drove recklessly at a high speed causing a head-on collision in which 20-year-old Debbie Marie Ashton was killed.

Yesterday Debbie's mother Judy Ashton said she was "elated" he hadn't been able to work the system.

"I'm grateful that whoever found that letter acted on it...and I'm rapt that the justice system is working in this case."

A decade after she lost her daughter Ms Ashton said the new sentencing "brought it all back".

"It's been 10 years now and I often think where would she have been."

Young was addressed by Judge Adeane yesterday who told him his most recent offence had exposed a manipulative and criminal character.

"The sorry conclusion has to be reached today that you, at 36 years of age, have a character which is largely unredeemed.

"Your sense of self-preservation knows no scruples at all," he said.

Young was sentenced to three years' imprisonment which was to be served on top of his current imprisonment term; meaning he will remain in jail until July 2021.