Peter Ellis to lodge fresh petition for full pardon

Peter Ellis. File photo / The Listener

Convicted child abuser Peter Ellis is to lodge a fresh petition to the Governor-General seeking a full pardon.

Mr Ellis served almost seven years in prison after being found guilty of 16 charges of sexual abuse of children at a civic creche in Christchurch in the early 1990s.

Mr Ellis, 51, has always denied the allegations and has already had three petitions for a pardon and two appeals against his conviction turned down. An application for a Royal Commission of inquiry into his case was also rejected

His lawyer Judith Ablett-Kerr QC said the new petition rested on fresh Otago University research indicating the questioning of the children was below a legally acceptable standard.

It was crucial to Mr Ellis and his mother that his name was cleared and the petition would be lodged at the end of January, she told Radio New Zealand.

- NZPA