28 May 2011

Wife killer back in prison

9:56 pm on 28 May 2011

A man who murdered his wife, then took 12 years to tell the police where she was buried, is back in prison.

Yvonne Bennett disappeared in April 1982, sparking one of the country's longest-running criminal investigations.

But it was 1994 before her husband Warwick Bennett, a former Air Force sergeant, was convicted of murder and led police to her crude grave in a west Auckland forest.

Now, Bennett's probation officer says he poses an undue risk of harm to his new wife, because of relationship difficulties between the two.

The Parole Board says it's concerned about the wife having left the matrimonial home, and disturbing evidence of some situations of risk arising from her drinking.

The Board says it's satisfied Bennett should return to jail.

His next parole hearing is scheduled for September.