Father puts blame for murder on his son

Cary Grant Thurgood is charged with murdering Leanne Kingston. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A father wept while he told police that it was his son who had murdered his estranged partner - not him. Police believe his story to be lies.

Cary Grant Thurgood is on trial at the High Court at Auckland for murdering Leanne Kingston. He has pleaded not guilty.

The jury was played a recording of an interview Thurgood gave to police inside the Auckland Central Remand Prison shortly after he was arrested.

Between sobs, he told two detectives and his lawyer, Tony Bouchier, that he received a call from his son, who confessed to the killing.

"He said, 'Sorry, Dad, about what's gone on', that he had a heated argument and that Mum was dead," Thurgood told police.

"I just asked him, 'You're joking, aren't you?' and he goes, 'No'. I said that I'll cover him."

Thurgood told police he drove over to Ms Kingston's home, parking down the street to avoid being seen by any "nosy neighbours".

He said he found her keys in the door and her bloodied body lying on her toilet floor.

"I turned to look and it was covered in blood. I tried to push the door open and there's Leanne covered in blood. I checked her pulse," Thurgood told police.

He said he recognised a number of items from his home at the murder scene, including gloves, plastic ties, bleach and a toilet bag.

Thurgood said he then removed items, including a knife and a garden handle implement, from the murder scene.

"I just random grabbed, I grabbed because I was panicking," he said.

He dumped the items in a skip behind the Irish pub where he worked as a chef.

Thurgood then returned to the scene with bleach and cloths to remove finger prints.

But police later dismissed his story as a fabrication.

Detectives have CCTV footage showing Thurgood buying the gloves, plastic ties and bleach from a Mitre 10 Mega store just days before the killing.

Police also have the phone records of Thurgood's son which showed he made no phone calls to his father on the day Ms Kingston was found dead.

Thurgood was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. He pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial last month.