Man found guilty of ex-partner's murder

Cary Grant Thurgood is accused of murdering his estranged partner Leanne Kingston. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A man has been found guilty of murdering his estranged partner, mother of four Leanne Kingston, in her Auckland home last year.

The Auckland High Court jury returned guilty verdicts for Cary Grant Thurgood and co-accused Steven John Moorby, who was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, after deliberating for about three hours.

The jury found that Thurgood, 43, beat 39-year-old Ms Kingston to death in the toilet of her Pakuranga home on the morning of August 10.

Her bloodied body was found by her sister - Ms Kingston was a triplet - and police found two rubbish bags in a skip behind Thurgood's place of work containing a long kitchen knife, cable ties, tape, gloves and a balaclava.

It appeared Ms Kingston had tried to take refuge in the toilet, but the door was off its hinge indicating someone had forced their way in.

A window had also been smashed and she had defensive injuries indicating a struggle had taken place in the confined space, police said.

A pathologist determined she died from inhaling blood and possibly also blood loss.

After initially denying any involvement, Thurgood blamed the killing on his and Ms Kingston's 17-year-old son, telling police the boy had confessed to him.

Thurgood's "best mate", 44-year-old Moorby, also claimed the boy, whose name is suppressed, admitted to him that he had killed his own mother.

Both men were charged with wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice to which Thurgood pleaded guilty and Moorby not guilty, claiming he had heard the confession "in a dream" and believed it to be true.

Both prosecution and defence counsels agreed the boy had no part in the homicide, as he had an undisputed alibi.

One of Ms Kingston's triplet sisters, Nicole Berryman, last week told the court Thurgood had been trying to sabotage her sister's relationships with other men and on one occasion got one of his workmates to phone Ms Kingston pretending to be the wife of a man she was seeing.

"She was saying if you mess around with my husband I'll deal with you."

Ms Kingston's car tyres were also regularly slashed and her fridge, washing machine and television were destroyed by someone. Ms Kingston suspected Thurgood was responsible and changed the locks on her house, Ms Berryman said.

Moorby was granted bail pending the men's sentencing on March 3.

- NZPA