Dean Wickliffe gets another five months jail for drink-driving and breaching parole

Notorious criminal Dean Wickliffe who appeared in the Tauranga District Court on Tuesday, was jailed for another five months for drink-driving and breaching his parole. Photo/File

High-profile criminal Dean Wickliffe has been handed another five months' jail sentence after being caught drink-driving for the sixth time and also driving while forbidden.

Wickliffe, 69, appeared in the Tauranga District Court by audio-visual link from prison today before Judge Christina Cook for sentence on three charges.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to one charge each of driving with an excess blood alcohol, driving while disqualified and a breach of a parole condition by consuming alcohol.

Wickliffe was caught drink-driving on March 14 while his licence was also revoked following his last drink-driving offence on September 23, 2017.

On March 14 this year he was stopped at a checkpoint and found to be driving with excess breath alcohol, which was later confirmed by a subsequent blood test.

Glenn Barnett, agent for Wickliffe's lawyer, argued a sentence of four months' prison was appropriate before discounts for his prompt guilty plea and time on remand.

Barnett urged Judge Cook to impose no additional penalty for the parole breach.

Judge Cook disagreed, noting this was Wickliffe's sixth drink-driving or driving while impaired conviction albeit his first three convictions were all in 1996.

But the judge said this was Wickliffe's second drink-driving conviction since he was released from jail in May last year, and his third conviction for driving on a revoked or suspended licence.

Judge Cook said along with the five-month prison sentence she disqualified Wickliffe from driving for 18 months from October 21.

The judge also ordered Wickliffe to apply for a zero alcohol licence at the end of his disqualification and warned him he would be committing an offence if he failed to do so.

Judge Cook also ordered Wickliffe's vehicle to be permanently confiscated and imposed a concurrent prison sentence of one month for the parole breach.

Wickliffe sat silently as the extra prison time was imposed on him, and it will be up to the Parole Board when and if he is freed on parole again.

She also ordered the vehicle he was driving to be permanently confiscated and told him he must pay $226.36 reparation to police to cover the cost of blood test and analysis.

Wickliffe has spent more than half his life behind bars.

He has been recalled to prison five times to continue serving his life sentence for a 1972 manslaughter, and in 1976 there was also an escape from custody conviction.