Norfolk Island murder inquiry won't be re-opened

Janelle Patton was murdered on Norfolk Island on Easter Sunday 2002. Photo / supplied

Australian Federal Police are not going to reopen the case of a New Zealander jailed for the killing of Australian woman Janelle Patton on Norfolk Island.

New Zealand chef Glenn McNeill was jailed for 24 years in 2007 for the murder of Ms Patton in the tiny Australian territory in 2002.

But McNeill, imprisoned in New South Wales, now claims a local drug-dealing couple carried out the tiny island's first killing in 150 years.

He claimed he only disposed of Ms Patton's body after he was blackmailed by the couple.

A sworn statement and other evidence aired on TV1 documentary series The Investigator last week were given to Australian Federal Police (AFP), who sent officers to McNeill's former island home on Friday.

An AFP spokeswoman would not say what evidence was being sought but in the documentary McNeill said he had buried a pair of latex surgical gloves in his backyard after disposing of Ms Patton's body.

Tonight the Stuff website quoted an AFP spokeswoman as saying that nothing had been found during a search at the house.

The AFP had followed up on the new information provided and until further evidence was obtained the murder investigation would not be reopened, she said.

- NZPA