PM considers independent inquiry into Crewe murders

Harvey and Jeannette Crewe. Photo / Supplied

Prime Minister John Key says he's looking into Rochelle Crewe's request for an independent inquiry into her parents' murders.

Ms Crewe had written to Mr Key requesting an independent body investigate the killings and suggested an overseas judge be put in charge, the Herald reported today.

She was 18 months old when she was found hungry and distressed in a cot at her parents' farm in Pukekawa, south of Auckland in 1970.

The bodies of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe were found several weeks later dumped in the Waikato River. They had been shot.

Ms Crewe asked the Prime Minister for an independent inquest after police last week announced they would not reopen the case but appointed a senior police officer to review the Crewe homicide file.

She said she was disappointed with the response by police as she believed the original investigation was tainted by corruption.

"I feel it is inadequate to just review what was already done, as this may not be a wide enough net to capture what was previously left out of the original investigation," Ms Crewe wrote to Mr Key.

Mr Key said today he was taking official advice after reading Ms Crewe's letter.

"You'd be aware that police have taken some steps but not to the satisfaction of Rochelle Crewe and I accept and acknowledge that.

"But I need to take advice about what might be the appropriate steps or otherwise from here," he said.

Arthur Allan Thomas was tried twice for the murders but pardoned in 1979 after nine years in jail. In 1980 a Royal Commission concluded Detective Inspector Bruce Hutton and Detective Sergeant Len Johnston buried a shellcase from Mr Thomas' rifle in the Crewes' garden to link him to the crime.

Ms Crewe told Mr Key she was critical of the decision not to charge the pair after Solicitor-General Paul Neazor QC said there was insufficient evidence.

She said there were allegations of "inappropriate mingling" between jurors and police officers during Mr Thomas' second trial, and police failed to follow all leads in the early stages of the investigation.

An independent inquiry was needed as a matter of "fairness and to alleviate further cover-ups within the police".

- NZPA