Dominating the papers on Wednesday is the guilty verdict in the Rodney Tahu cold case. Also: list MP's behavour prompted apology note to hotel waiter.
NZ Herald
The New Zealand Herald leads an ex-detective who worked on the Turangi cold case saying "we knew we'd get him".
Rex Hawkins was Taupo police's support person to the grieving whanau of Mr Tahu and had even arrested Menzies Hallet just over 24 hours after the shooting.
Mr Hawkins told the paper that living with the knowledge for 33 years of who the offender was and not being able to place him before the court, has been difficult.
Also in the Herald: the arrest of Coronation Street star Bill Roache over an allegation that he raped a 15-year-old girl in 1967.
Waikato Times
The Waikato Times front page is dominated with the headline - "everyone knew he'd done it".
The paper says for 30 years Menzies Hallet has thought he got away with murder.
It says to many who knew him, he seemed an affable and outgoing, if not overly successful, real estate agent.
The Dominion Post
"How has he been able to sleep for the past 30 years?" asks The Dominion Post headline.
The paper says Hallet's friends and associates have been left wondering how he could have lived with the knowledge that he killed a man he did not know in a fit of rage.
Also in the paper: a friend of National list MP Aaron Gilmore was so embarrased by the politician's behaviour after drinking 1½ bottles of wine that he wrote an apology to hotel staff.
The Press
The Press leads with the Aaron Gilmore story - it says sources close to Heritage Hanmer Springs hotel say Mr Gilmore insulted a waiter and handed over his business card making a comment along the lines of "don't you know who I am?".
Mr Gilmore's carry-on prompted Christchurch lawyer Andrew Riches to leave the waiter an apology note the next day.
Spiralling construction costs are threatening redevelopment in Christchurch, prompting calls for action to get prices down.
ODT
The Otago Daily Times leads with a belated apology from the Inland Revenue Department for a Milton woman.
The paper says process worker Danelle Byrne claims the IRD ignored her pleas that her name and IRD number were being used fraudulently by a Christchurch business for almost a year.
Police in Oamaru are urging both sides of a dispute over the sale of legal highs to act responsibly after a dairy owner allegedly turned a water-blaster on a group protesting against the sale of K2.
