Nicole Tuxford murder: Police cleared for not arresting David Bain's groomsman Paul Tainui

Paul Wilson (also known as Paul Tainui) is being sentenced for the rape and murder of 27-year-old Nicole Tuxford in her Merivale home. Main photo / Dean Purcell

The Independent Police Conduct Authority cleared police for not arresting a murderer on parole who was caught drink driving with knives in his car and went on to kill another woman.

Paul Pounamu Tainui, aka Paul Russell Wilson, raped and murdered a young Christchurch woman 24 years after he first killed an ex-girlfriend in a chillingly similar case.

Last year he was sentenced to a second life sentence for killing Nicole Tuxford in April 2018.

Tainui will be at least 83 before he can even be considered for a release from jail.

The killer lay in wait for eight hours overnight before 27-year-old Nicole Marie Tuxford arrived back at her Merivale home.

Tainui, a groomsman at David Bain's wedding, earlier pleaded guilty to the life coach's murder and rape.

The crime came 24 years after he murdered former girlfriend Kimberly Schroder in Hokitika.

It was later revealed that Tainui had been stopped by police the night before he killed Tuxford.

He was over the legal drink driving limit and had knives in his car - but was not detained or arrested.

Today the Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that it was reasonable for the officer not to take further action after stopping Tainui at the checkpoint.

"The officer checked Mr Tainui's details in the police database which noted only that he had been convicted of murder in 1996," said the IPCA report released today following an independent inquiry into the matter.

"He processed Mr Tainui for drink driving and summonsed him to appear in court.

"Mr Tainui was forbidden to drive for 12 hours and his car keys were confiscated."

Soon after later Tainui took a taxi to Tuxford's house where he hid and waited for her to return home.

When she arrived he raped and then murdered her, using her kitchen knives to do so.

IPCA board chair Judge Colin Doherty said the officer's decision to summons rather than arrest Tainui for his drink driving offence was "in keeping with standard police practice".

"When Mr Tainui volunteered to the officer he had knives in his car, the officer accepted his reason for having them and requested he leave them in his locked car boot, which he did," Doherty said.

"Mr Tainui then left on foot.

"The officer was justified in not detaining or arresting Mr Tainui once he knew Mr Tainui had knives in his car, as he believed Mr Tainui's explanation for having them in his possession was reasonable."

Doherty said at the time, police did not have adequate mechanisms or training in place to identify when a parolee needed to be arrested and urgent consideration given to an application for their recall to prison.

Police have since worked with the Department of Corrections to ensure a better system is in place.

"The authority accepts the officer's assessment of the situation was reasonable as was his decision making," Doherty ruled.

"There were no clear processes in place at the time for him to follow in respect of parolees and nothing in the law to require that life parolees be arrested when suspected of committing an imprisonable offence."

Police acknowledged the IPCA findings.

Canterbury District Commander Superintendent John Price said his officer acted appropriately when Tainui was processed and released.

"During processing the officer conducted a search of the police database and noted an alert for a murder committed by him in 1994," Price said in a statement.

"However there was no information on the database to indicate Tainui was a life parolee, or that any release conditions had been breached.

"The IPCA found there was no basis for the officer to conclude a recall application should be made, and nothing in the law to require parolees be arrested when found to have committed an imprisonable offence."

Price said the officer had no reason to question the "reasonable" explanation Tainui had for having knives in his car.

"The knives were not returned to Tainui and remained in the locked vehicle, with Tainui leaving the area on foot," he confirmed.

"As the facts of this case have shown, Tainui was on a determined path to causing harm to Nicole when he was stopped.

"The interaction with Police had no deterring effect on him, and the officers who dealt with him simply had no realistic way to predict what he would go on to do."

Price said the officers who were at the checkpoint were also "deeply affected" by Tainui's "despicable actions".

"However as this report outlines, they made appropriate decisions based on the information they had," he said.

"During their interaction with him there was no indication of what Tainui would do and no reasonable requirement for them to detain him."

Price said since the incident police and Corrections have worked to make improvements to support frontline officers who may come into contact with life parolees.

"This includes an alert on the police database to advise an officer of relevant information about a life parolee, and further direction about how they should be dealt with, including making contact with Corrections via an incident line to advise of the arrest and to ascertain whether a recall application will be made.

"While the IPCA have emphasised that there is no certainty Nicole's death would have been averted if the enhanced notification system had been in place, police and Corrections have worked hard to develop an improved process in order to protect the public and to support front-line officers, and will continue to work together to appropriately manage offenders on parole."

Price also acknowledged the families of Tainui's victims.

"Nicole Tuxford's murder was a tragedy and her family remain in our thoughts as they continue to deal with the unimaginable pain and distress caused by her loss," he said.

"Our thoughts remain also with the family of Kim Schroder, who was murdered by Tainui in 1994, for the horrendous re-traumatising they faced following Nicole's murder."

At sentencing Tuxford's loved ones slammed the Parole Board's decision to release Wilson back into the community.

Her partner Clay Saunders told Wilson he was a "role model for bringing back the death penalty".

It was evident that the system was broken, her mother Cherie Gillatt said, for Wilson to be allowed back into society to commit such atrocious crimes twice.

She called Wilson a "worthless coward" and a liar.

"I hope you rot," she said.

Wilson refused to look Tuxford's grieving loved ones as they read aloud emotional victim impact statements in a packed courtroom at the High Court in Christchurch.

Nicole's sister Jess Tuxford demanded that he look at her while she spoke.

But he refused, unmoved, keeping his eyes averted throughout.

Jess Tuxford described him as a "monster of a man", "scum" and "savage".

She noted it wasn't the first time Wilson had taken an innocent life of women who rejected his advances.

Crown prosecutor Pip described Tuxford's death as a "frenzied, concerted… savage" premeditated attack clearly intended to kill the woman in her own home, where "she should've been safe, somewhere where she should've been able to come home to".

Wilson was someone who Tuxford regarded as a friend and someone who, "quite ironically", was someone that she was trying to help.

The extent of harm to two "absolutely broken families", including the "re-traumatised" Schroder family, has been "unimaginable and something that no family should have to experience", Currie said.

Wilson has now killed two young women in what were almost identical planned, revenge attacks fueled by obsession and rejection.

There are "chilling similarities", Currie said, with Wilson in both cases lying in wait, restraining and gagging his victims, before sexually assaulting them and then cutting their throats.

Pre-sentence psych reports highlighted disturbing comments by Wilson, with one noting that he demonstrated a lack of remorse and "hatred for his victim". A "pathological liar", he even showed "some pleasure" in recounting his offending.

One report writer said Wilson was unable to hide his "sense of gratification" over the sense of notoriety he will gain, adding that he showed a "profound lack of remorse for victims and their families".

Currie said the offending was an appropriate case for life without parole to be imposed for the first time in New Zealand.

But Justice Cameron Mander refused - instead imposing a life sentence with the hefty minimum non-parole period.