The Parole Board has ordered an expert review of the file of a man who enacted his fantasy of killing then burying his victim in a prepared grave.
Carl Carter and his brother killed Mark Donovan in Tuakau in 1994 and buried him on their family's farm.
Carter was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years in jail for the murder, a crime the Parole Board described as extraordinary for its careful and cold-blooded planning.
The board says Carter has taken all the usual and necessary steps to show he could be safely released, but adds the murder was an exceptional one.
Psychological reports place him at a high risk of reoffending, and the Board has ordered an expert review of Carter's file.
Instead of a usual annual hearing, the board will next see Carter in August but says it makes no promises about the outcome of that sitting.