Wanted man caught by police

Zane McVeigh.

A man who allegedly breached his parole conditions by removing his electronic monitoring bracelet and fleeing his Wellington address has been caught by police.

Earlier police issued an appeal for Zane McVeigh, 19, to hand himself in after officers were alerted overnight that his monitoring anklet had been removed.

McVeigh has since been located and arrested without incident, the Wellington Crime Squad said.

"As the matter is now before the courts we will not be releasing any further details at this point," it said in a statement.

McVeigh was sentenced last year to two years and eight months' in prison for the attempted abduction of a student with intent to rape her.

McVeigh and co-accused Joseph Lepper, aged in his late 30s, were in Lepper's van cruising Dunedin's warehouse precinct when Lepper spotted the victim walking in dimly lit Vogel St about 9.30pm on October 19, 2013.

"I'm going to do that bitch," he told McVeigh, according to a court report from the Otago Daily Times last August.

The victim, who cannot be named, fought off the pair as they tried to bundle her into the van, which was angle-parked in front of the 22-year-old.

It's the latest in a string of incidents in which offenders have slipped their electronic monitoring bracelets and went on the run from police.

On Monday Southland police were hunting Michael George Mulligan, 30, who was on electronically monitored bail and facing driving and domestic violence charges when he removed his monitoring bracelet.

Before that, a man spent two days on the run after removing his bracelet while serving six weeks home detention in the Bay of Plenty for demanding to steal.

He had previous convictions for family violence and drink driving.He was found after two days at a Kawerau address by police dogs. Last week Corrections assistant northern commissioner Alastair Riach told TV3's Story that five criminals serving community-based sentences or who were on electronic monitoring were on the run after cutting off their ankle bracelets.

Earlier this month, convicted child sex offender David Livingstone allegedly removed his electronic monitoring bracelet to escape his Wellington abode. He was arrested by police two days later in the Hutt Valley.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charge. Last year Tony Robertson murdered and raped North Shore woman Blessie Gotingco while on monitored release for child sex offending. As of August 18, there were 3232 offenders on the electronic monitoring system introduced in February, of which 1832 are also monitored via a real-time GPS system.

Electronic monitoring:

Corrections electronically monitors 4100 people through security companies 3M and First Security.

Of those, 3700 are sentenced prisoners subject to community sentences like home detention or post-sentence supervision orders that dictate GPS monitoring.

Those people are managed by Corrections. The rest are before the courts and have been released on electronically monitored bail. Police manage these cases but Corrections carry out the monitoring.

If anyone spots McVeigh they are advised to contact the Wellington District Command Centre immediately on 04 381 5612, and do not approach him.