Napier shooting: Snee's wife visits police

As the Napier siege entered its final hours, the wife of slain policeman Len Snee visited his colleagues at the control centre set up to bring in his killer.

Vicki Snee arrived mid-morning, giving Eastern District operations manager Inspector Mike O'Leary "a hell of a fright and a pleasant surprise". "We had a big hug and said a few things."

Vicki Snee offered thanks for the efforts police put into recovering her husband's body from the driveway of the Chaucer Rd property where he lay after being shot dead by Jan Molenaar on Thursday morning. Police achieved their aim nearly 32 hours later - after 5pm on Friday.

"She was very grateful to staff for getting Lenny back home." Vicki Snee was "very composed" O'Leary said.

A policeman for 33 years, Snee was highly respected for his work in the Armed Offenders Squad and in general duties. He has two brothers, Benjamin and Steven, and two children, Joe and Sam. Snee's first grandchild is about to be born.

Snee was the 29th police officer in New Zealand to be killed in the line of duty. He died in the incident that sparked the 51-hour seige, which also caused serious injuries to Senior Constable Bruce Miller, dog handler Grant Diver and Molenaar's neighbour Leonard Holmwood.

Miller and Holmwood are still listed in a critical condition in Hawkes Bay Hospital. Diver was serious but stable - he asked after the condition of his dog Five-o from his hospital bed yesterday.

Miller's injuries are believed to be extensive. The Herald on Sunday was told the bullet had entered his back, travelled through his body and landed under his shoulder. It pierced his lung and surgeons had to remove part of his spleen and colon.

Miller, aged 40 with 18 years in the police, had been expected to play with the Napier Marist Football Club division two team yesterday. News of the shooting almost pushed his team-mates to cancel the match - but they knew that was not what Miller would want.

Standing on the sidelines was the wounded officer's brother Andrew, who had come to the match from the hospital. Andrew Miller told the team he had asked his brother "to squeeze his hand". He told the team "he wouldn't let go".

The team was told that Miller was "alert, he can hear things, he's responding".

The team was two other members down - other police officers exhausted from being involved in the siege. The scoreboard: Napier Marist 5, Hastings Rovers 0.