A teenager told police she knew a mother-of-three was at home when she started a fire that blocked the woman's chance to escape and left her to die.

The last moments of Liberty Templeman's life may never be known, as her killer has never told the truth, his sentencing judge has said.

A tearful teenage girl who deliberately lit a fire which killed Pukekohe mum Lynette Chapman today changed her plea on a murder charge to guilty.

A 17-year-old girl has pleaded guilty to murdering Pukekohe mother of three Lynette Chapman, who died in a fire in her home in January.

All Black Sione Lauaki admits punching a man in a Hamilton bar earlier this month, but will be available for the Chiefs' next match with the Brumbies.

Two years after escaping her underground prison, she lives in a brightly painted house in a tiny hamlet referred to as "Village X".

A one-armed man went on a violent rampage yesterday, committing a string of random assaults on Auckland's busy city streets just before noon.

A shop assistant was held at gunpoint last night - prompting the widow of a slain liquor store owner to call for imitation firearms to be banned from sale.

The two sisters who rescued Tuakau policeman John Connolly from a savage beating say they are being bullied out of town.

Forty-three of NZ's most dangerous criminals have been convicted of serious violent offences committed while they were already on parole.

One of NZ's most dangerous sex criminals attacked two women while on parole and under Corrections Department supervision.

A man appeared in court this morning charged with the murder of Harold Skudder after police received new information yesterday.