Murderer released for second time

A woman serving a life sentence for murder has been released from prison for the second time. File photo / NZ Herald

A former Timaru woman serving a life sentence for murder has been released from prison for the second time.

Michelle Elizabeth Nicholson, 49, was released on Monday to live at an undisclosed address, The Timaru Herald reported today.

Nicholson was jailed for life in July 1997 for the murder of Temuka man Dennis Hind.

She was released in December 2007, but recalled six months later after forming a relationship with a convicted killer and harbouring him when he absconded from a residential rehabilitation programme.

Nicholson lived with retired bank manager Mr Hind and persuaded her then 18-year-old lover Robert Smith to murder him to get at his inheritance.

Mr Hind was stabbed to death as he lay in bed.

Smith was also convicted of murder and paroled in 2009.

- NZPA