Blakie killer remains behind bars

Hitch-hiker Lisa Blakie was murdered in 2000 and her body dumped in a river near Arthur's Pass. File photo / NZ Herald

The killer of Timaru woman Lisa Blakie will remain behind bars for another year.

Ms Blakie, 20, was hitchhiking to the West Coast when she was picked up by Timothy David Taylor in North Canterbury. He subsequently stabbed her eight times and strangled her to death on February 2, 2000.

Her body was found four days later under a boulder in the Porter River off the Arthurs Pass Highway, by a group of men on a Waitangi Day fishing trip.

A jury found Taylor guilty of murder in 2002, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

Taylor appeared before the parol board for the first time yesterday, as he became eligible for parole after 10 years in prison.

The members of the parole board declined the prisoner the chance to leave prison this year.

Judge David Carruthers said Ms Blakie's family remained "devastated" by what Taylor had done.

"They are still outraged that he has shown no real remorse. They do not see that he has made any change in his behaviour. They do not see he has undergone any intensive programme.

"They are fearful that he will reoffend if released and oppose his release for that reason."

Justice Carruthers decided not to canvass the details of the high-profile murder: "It is enough to say that it was a particularly savage and brutal murder. Mr Taylor has always denied it was he who murdered this young hitchhiker. He continues to deny and to assert his innocence."

A long-time friend attended the hearing in support of Taylor.

During opening submissions, Taylor did not ask for parole. Instead, the prisoner asked for the board's support and direction on the "intensive work" he had yet to do to gain parole.

Taylor had a "very bad start in prison", but had "decided suddenly to pull his head in and to start changing his behaviour and to stop fighting the system" after he attended an Alternative to Violence programme in 2009, said Justice Carruthers.

A recent psychologist report assessed him as a high risk of serious reoffending, and of moderate risk of further sexual offending.

The psychologist recommended one-on-one psychological treatment as an option for reversing deeply ingrained ways of behaving and "longstanding problems and patterns about truth, openness and honesty."

Taylor is scheduled to go before the parol board again in a year, the statutory requirement.