Arthur Taylor (64) has been bailed and ordered not to leave Dunedin unless allowed by Probation. Photo / Otago Daily Times
Arthur Taylor (64) has been bailed and ordered not to leave Dunedin unless allowed by Probation. Photo / Otago Daily Times
High-profile Dunedin inmate and ex-jailhouse lawyer Arthur Taylor will be released from prison next week.
After being recalled to jail in December when police laid serious drugs charges against him, Taylor cleared his first hurdle to freedom on Thursday when the Parole Board agreed to let him out.
It wouldhave been meaningless, however, if his bail application — heard yesterday by Judge Emma Smith in the Dunedin District Court — had been unsuccessful.
She accepted a range of restrictive bail conditions was enough to mitigate any risk Taylor posed in the community.
The self-schooled jailhouse lawyer faces three counts of supplying gamma-butyrolactone (GBL); three of offering to supply it; supplying methamphetamine; offering to supply methamphetamine; possession of methamphetamine for supply; two counts of conspiring to supply methamphetamine; and obtaining by deception — all of which allegedly took place between February and June when he was living in Wellington while on parole.
Taylor's next court date is a judge-alone trial in the Wellington District Court next month after he pleaded not guilty to possession of a small quantity of methamphetamine.
On the Dunedin charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty and elected trial by jury, he will be back in court in March.
Arthur Taylor was arrested on a range of serious drug charges. Photo / File
The bail conditions imposed by Judge Smith mirrored those formulated by the Parole Board and will apply from when he is released on Wednesday:
