Medals return slashes jail term

A career criminal's actions in helping broker the return of stolen war medals two years ago has earned him a substantial discount on his drug-dealing sentence.

Daniel Crichton was yesterday sentenced in the High Court at Auckland to a term of seven years on a single representative charge of supplying more than 1kg of methamphetamine during a 44-day period in 2007.

When combined with a previous sentence handed out in December last year for another methamphetamine charge, he faces a total of nine years, seven months behind bars.

Justice Hugh Williams said a starting point for sentencing of 12 years' imprisonment, uplifted by a further 12 to 18 months for aggravating factors which included previous convictions and supplying drugs to a prisoner, was justified.

But he gave Crichton a substantial discount due to his guilty plea, his attempts at turning his life around and his part in securing the return of some of the war medals stolen from the Army Museum in Waiouru in December 2007.

"It's not going too far to say the nation was most grateful that a significant part of our military history was recovered," Justice Williams said.

Crichton was in custody when medals, including Victoria Crosses, were stolen. He later came to discover where the medals might be and approached his then-lawyer about it, Justice Williams said.

His contribution led directly to the return of the first batch of seven of the medals, known as the Hudson medals. The others were returned later.

Justice Williams said Crichton turned down a monetary reward for his part in the return of the Hudson medals.

He had also said he had been the subject of "punitive action" against him by other inmates as a result of his help to police.

A jury was chosen less than three weeks ago to hear the 11 charges Crichton originally faced over the 2007 drug offending.

But after discussions in chambers, he pleaded guilty to one representative charge.

The discount for his guilty plea was 20 per cent, much more than normal for a guilty plea entered after a jury had been chosen.

Crichton will come up for parole after serving about three years, three months.

Two George Crosses, an Albert Medal and nine Victoria Crosses were among the 96 medals stolen from the army museum. Two men have subsequently admitted charges relating to their theft.

Ronald van Wakeren was last year jailed for 11 years for a variety of charges, including ones related to the medal heist.

The second man, who has name suppression, admitted charges on Tuesday and will be sentenced on August 26.

- NZPA