Person charged with Roycroft murder

4.00pm

UPDATE - Police have charged a person with murder, the day after resuming the hunt for a Waikato man missing for 16 years.

But the body of Wayne Maurice Roycroft has not been found.

The person charged with killing Roycroft was given name suppression when appearing in the Hamilton District Court today before Judge Joanna Maze.

The accused was remanded in custody to reappear in the court for a bail hearing tomorrow.

The charge was laid 24 hours after police returned to the Waihou house where 35-year-old Mr Roycroft lived with his wife and two young children in 1988.

The sickness beneficiary has not been seen by his family since he met his brother Brett at the Waihou Tavern for drinks in November that year. He was to go fishing with his brother the following day, but did not show up.

Yesterday, another brother, Aaron, told the Waikato Times he believed his brother was buried under a concrete slab next to the house.

Wayne Roycroft's mother Aileen, now living in a rest home in Hamilton, has always maintained her son had been killed and buried on or near his property.

Police yesterday removed a green and white deck covering the two metre by five metre concrete slab from the side of the three bedroom house.

The concrete was cut up and removed.

Wayne Roycroft's family reported him missing in June 1989. His bank accounts have remained untouched since and he did not have a passport.

His partner Christine and two children, Daniel and Jamie -- now approaching their 20s -- stayed at the house for several years before moving to a nearby town.

Aaron Roycroft is the youngest of 10 Roycroft siblings.

"We always said he was buried there. When he disappeared there were no plans for that concrete slab and then a week later there it was," he said.

"In my opinion, yes he's definitely there. Why they (whoever killed him) would bury him on his own property who knows?"

Mr Roycroft 38, said his family hoped this would be the last time police searched the property.

"We're just hoping they'll find him the same as we always have. Every time something comes up and the police look into it, it upsets mum, and its been that way for 16 years. Hopefully this is the last time."

He says his brother did not move to Australia, as was suggested at the time.

The present owner of the Campbell St house, dairy worker Richard Chambers, has been put up in a motel by police during the search.

Acting crime service manager Mike Whitehead yesterday would not confirm police were searching for a body.

Police had previously not upgraded the case to a homicide inquiry and in March, when it was reported police had new information, they said those were just "rumours".

More than a dozen police staff and Environmental Science and Research scientists were due to start examining the property this morning.

"We're not sure what we might find, what might have been there to find, and what might still be there," Mr Whitehead said.

The section had been searched twice before but he did not know if the concrete slab had been looked at.

He would not say what the new information, which prompted the case to be re-opened, was or who it came from.

- NZPA