Monday, April 6, 2020 Since Sept 27, 1879 Retail $2.20 Home delivered from $1.40 THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY Siren’s birthday lockdown Life’s a beach FULL STORY P3 P4 New murder probe BY MATT MARKHAM formation available to them and going Kirsty grew up in. [email protected] that step further as well to ensure they Also, along with Detective Inspec- A new investigation into the unsolved gained as bigger picture as possible for tor, Greg Murton, who was handed the murder of Ashburton teenager Kirsty the investigation. Bentley file in 2014, they walked the Bentley in 1998 has revealed new de- “The problem with the Kirsty Bentley same track Bentley had near the Ash- tails and information around one of case is that it’s been pretty well raked burton River and visited the site in the New Zealand’s most prolific cold case over, so finding that point of difference Rakaia Gorge where her body was dis- murders. was always going to be the key for us,” covered two weeks after she went miss- Released on news website Stuff at the Ensor told the Guardian yesterday. ing. weekend, the investigation, dubbed “We spent a fair amount of time in- “That was really important for us, to Killer Blow, was undertaken by Fairfax itially just going over all the Fairfax be down in Ashburton and seeing such investigative journalists Blair Ensor and news stories on the case and from that significant areas in the case in real life Martin van Beynen and was the result we felt like we had enough information and not trying to do it all from the com- of months of interviews, research and for a really strong story, but we wanted fort of the office in Christchurch. Newcomers’ in depth analysis of a case which has more.” “We needed to be there to get a better perplexed a district, and in so many The pair conducted multiple trips picture of these places.” ways a country for more than two dec- to Ashburton and spent many hours ades. walking the streets and talking to locals Network Beginning late last year, the pair set on properties around South Street and CONTINUED P2 P8 to work scouring over every piece of in- Chalmers Ave, near the house which Local news for local people Mid Canterbury’s only locally-owned daily newspaper Ph 03 307 7900 You may be stuck inside, to subscribe! But the rest of the world is at your fi ngertips … Subscribe now www.guardianonline.co.nz or Phone (03) 307-7904 Email [email protected] Text 021 271 3399 GuardianASHBURTON News 2 Ashburton Guardian Monday, April 6, 2020 www.guardianonline.co.nz ■ KIRSTY BENTLEY COLD CASE New investigation into cold case From P1 gation into the then 24-year long murder case Like so many investigations before them, the of pregnant 21-year-old mother Angela Black- pair naturally found their attention gravitating moore. Ensor’s work grew in prominence re- towards Bentley’s father, Sid and her brother cently when Jeremy Powell was arrested for the John who were the subject intense police inves- murder following the investigation which un- tigation. veiled new information and led police to offer a Gaining further information than has been $100,000 reward for further information. made public before on the movements of the A tip-off to detectives led to Powell becoming pair during the early hours of the search for a suspect and then ultimately being arrested 24 Kirsty and further detail on the changes to Sid’s years after Blackmoore’s death. story from what he initially told Police was a key “After the Reynolds and Blackmoore investiga- find in their search for further information. tions, Kirsty Bentley was a natural progression “It was a whole heap of little things, maybe not for us.” really obvious stuff when you first glance over it, So, after months of poring over information but little bits of information that when all pieced and finding and releasing new details to the together make a slightly bigger picture. public, does Ensor believed the murder of Kirsty “Things like the scrunchy on Kirsty’s hand, Bentley back in 1998 will ever be solved? further information about Sid and John’s move- Best answer is that’s he’s keeping his cards ments that night during the search and even im- close to his chest. ages of the dog being tied to the tree. “Kirsty’s case is not as simple as say the Black- “Seeing the dog, as it was found by police is moore or the Reynolds cases, there’s very little hugely important as it really paints the picture.” evidence for a start, especially nothing definitive. The investigation also speaks with a number of “A lot of the police investigation focused on friends of Kirsty and reveals further sightings of Sid and John and if you talk to Greg Williams her in the hours leading up to her disappearance. who was the former head of the case you get the Killer Blow wasn’t a new venture for Ensor and picture that he’s pretty confident they were in- van Beynen either. volved. Van Beynen produced the hugely successful “John’s the only one with the answers to that podcast Black Hands – a 10-part series about possibility now. the Bain family murders while the pair worked “If it’s stranger abduction, then it’s only going collaboratively on Heavy Metal, an investigation to take that one little piece of information to put into the death of Christchurch scrap metal deal- them on the right track. er, John Reynolds. “There’s always hope.” Ensor also produced Dark Secret, an investi- Killer Blow can be found at www.stuff.co.nz Kirsty Bentley You may be stuck inside, But the rest of the world is at your fi ngertips … Subscribe now www.guardianonline.co.nz or Phone (03) 307-7904 | Email [email protected] | Text 021 271 3399 ASHBURTON www.guardianonline.co.nz Guardian News www.guardianonline.co.nz Monday, April 6, 2020 Ashburton Guardian 3 ■ HAPPY BIRTHDAY In brief Man arrested A man who filmed himself coughing and sneezing on Siren celebrates in lockdown supermarket shoppers in Christchurch has been arrested and charged. A police spokesman BY JAIME PITT-MACKAY said a 38-year-old man was [email protected] arrested in Christchurch on It is a bonus to have a pet to hang out with Saturday after he was seen on during lockdown, and one special pet cel- video online coughing at people in ebrated an important birthday recently. a supermarket. “The man has been Just over six years ago the Lill family’s charged with endangering life by cat Siren came to them in special circum- criminal nuisance and obstruction stances. of a medical officer of health.” He Firefighters were called to extinguish a is due to appear at Christchurch fire on a late March morning, in a 25-me- District Court today. - NZME tre section of hedge on a Highbank Cairn- brae Road property. The hedge was fully Police in isolation involved in flames, and firefighters had to spend about an hour at the scene. Hundreds of New Zealand’s One of the members, Gavin Lill, said he police – about 5 per cent of noticed a small creature following anoth- the organisation – are in self- er firefighter out of the scene, and initially isolation. The Police Association thought it was a hedgehog. has reported that there are 664 “He was kicking around in the grass, I sworn and non-sworn staff off picked him up. His whiskers were singed work. Of that number 381 are front off,” he said at the time. line staff and 283 are non-sworn. The orphaned kitten was obvious- Association president Chris Cahill ly feral and “pretty hissy”. He also had a said they had managed to move a bit of a “gammy leg” leading to a slow- lot of staff around, so overall it had er-than-usual walk. not affected services. - NZME He tucked him away in the pocket of his jacket and took him home. Lotto results A Facebook poll fittingly named him Siren, although he is now more known as Official Lotto results for draw ‘big cat’ having grown quite a lot from the number 1948 drawn on Saturday. small singed cat that first arrived at their Winning numbers (in ascending home. order): 6, 10, 11, 13, 20, 30. Bonus number: 31. Right - Siren the cat celebrating his Powerball winning number: 2. sixth birthday. Strike: 20, 10, 6, 11. ■ ASHBURTON DISTRICT COUNCIL Private Sale Ashburton council staff 25 Hanrahan Street Allenton Ashburton adapt to requirements BY SUE NEWMAN has launched the helpline to [email protected] assist vulnerable people ac- * Open plan living While it is business as usu- cess the essentials such as garage dp * Four bedrooms plus ensuite al, albeit from a home office, food and medication. N for many Ashburton District Ashburton Mayor Neil dp s/b * Double garaging w/m Council staff, there are also Brown says the service will h/p laundry dp entry many who are unable to work particularly assist the elder- * Tranquil stream setti ng h/p bedroom 4 bedroom 3 dining during the Covid-19 lockdown. ly, those with disabilities and * Completi on date March/ lounge kitchen But those council employees people who are unable to ac- April 2020 bedroom 1 bedroom 2 dp cess adequate transport sup- vanity have found new work, as part wc bathroom wir ensuite Shower dp of the district’s community re- port.