Mr Asia associate escapes jail

A convicted killer and player in the Mr Asia drug syndicate has escaped being sent back to jail on a drugs charge, despite being on parole for life.

Patrick Norton-Bennett, 60, of Brightwater, Nelson pleaded guilty in Nelson District Court this week to cultivating cannabis.

The court heard that police found eight small cannabis plants and 16 seedlings in a sleepout when they searched Norton-Bennett's home on March 6, The Nelson Mail reported.

His lawyer Tony Bamford said Norton-Bennett was recalled to prison following the charge being laid and spent a month in custody, which effectively meant he had served a two-month prison sentence.

Judge Chris Whitehead said a term of imprisonment was often not necessary for the amount of cannabis found, but he acknowledged the serious offences Norton-Bennett had previously committed, including conspiring to supply heroin.

"However those were all back in 1975 through to 1979, and there does not appear to be further drug-related offending since that time.

"You've stayed out of trouble altogether since 2004 so it's unfortunate you are back on this charge."

He sentenced Norton-Bennett to 200 hours' community work.

In June 1988 Norton-Bennett and his then wife Jennifer Norton-Bennett were sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of a 1986 drug-related murder in Coromandel.

He was released in 2001 on standard conditions for life.

Norton-Bennett was an associate of Terry Clark head of the Mr Asia syndicate which trafficked heroin into New Zealand, Australia and Britain in the 1970s and was responsible for several murders.

- NZPA