THe CHARACTERS

Arthur Allan Thomas _x

Twice convicted of the murders of Jeannette and Harvey Crewe before being pardoned and paid $1 million in compensation.

Des Thomas _x

Youngest brother of Arthur Thomas, campaigning to clear his family name.

Margaret Stuckey _x

Youngest sister of Arthur Thomas, married to Buster Stuckey, campaigning to clear family name.

Buster Stuckey _x

Brother-in-law of Arthur and Des Thomas, married to Margaret. Shocked to be named as a person of interest in 2014.

Di Seamer _x

Des Thomas’s partner.

Allan Thomas _x

The late father of Arthur, Des, and Margaret. Fought for his son’s innocence.

Jeannette and Harvey Crewe _x

Farming couple murdered in their home in the district, June 1970.

Rochelle Crewe _x

Jeannette and Harvey’s 18-month-old daughter, left alone at the murder scene.

Len Demler _x

Father of Jeannette, and the police’s first suspect.

Murray Christensen _x

Killed in an accident on a farm in the district in November, 2011, when he was hit by a bulldozer driven by Karl Lobb.

Lynette Stevens _x

Sister of Murray Christensen, who is campaigning for justice for her brother - and has made discoveries about the Crewe case.

Roger Stevens _x

Married to Lynette Stevens.

Andy Lovelock _x

Retired Detective Superintendent who led the review of the Crewe case released in 2014. Retired in 2016, after receiving a Queen’s Honour as Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Mike Bush _x

Police Commissioner who ordered the Crewe review after receiving a letter from Rochelle Crewe in 2010 asking for police to finally get answers to solve the unsolved murders of her parents.

Bruce Hutton _x

Former Detective Inspector who led the original Crewe murder investigation and was named by the 1980 Royal Commission of Inquiry as one of two officers involved in manufacturing evidence against Arthur Thomas. Died in 2013.

Len Johnston _x

Former Detective Sergeant brought on to the Crewe murder investigation team. The 1980 Royal Commission Commission of Inquiry found he had planted a cartridge case at the Crewe property to frame Arthur Thomas. Died in 1978.

Grant Coward _x

Former Detective Senior Sergeant and experienced homicide investigator who took a statement from Paul Jellick and now says he was surprised Jellick’s evidence was not included in the Lovelock Review.

Karl Lobb _x

Retired farm contractor who lives in the district and gave tainted evidence against Arthur Thomas to the Royal Commission of Inquiry. Was driving the bulldozer which killed Murray Christensen in 2011.

Rod Rasmussen _x

One of the main police witnesses who gave evidence linking the axle found under Harvey Crewe’s body to Arthur Thomas’s farm. Now maintains Arthur is innocent.

Paul Jellick _x

Gave a statement to the Lovelock Review about guns which ended up in the hands of Rod Rasmussen at the time of the murders. But the statement was not mentioned when the review was released in 2014.

Stuart _x

Paul Jellick’s Great Dane.

Tony Clark _x

Farmer in the district who lives near the Crewe murder scene and in 2016 found an old .22 rifle hidden in a dam on his property.

Ted Tickle _x

Former rodeo bull breeder and character in the district who did fencing for the Crewes not long before the murders.

Peter and Ros Macken _x

Couple who were dragged into the case when a gun they were given at the time of the murders was seized by the police during the Lovelock Review.

From the archives

Behind the scenes

ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTS

1980 Royal Commission of Inquiry

Independent Report on Police Review

Police Statement to Stuff Circuit

Lynette's
Date Scroll
Scones

1/2 cup of dates boiled with a sprinkle of cinnamon, and tea- spn raw sugar to a jam like consistency.

(Mash and leave to cool)

1 & 1/2 cups of self raising flour

35gms butter chopped or grated

Add enough milk and stir and chop in butter to a consistency easy to roll out on a floured board. About 1/2 inch thick into oblong shape.. and then spread date jam onto scone base. Carefully roll up into a log and cut into slices...place onto tray in oven. Sprinkle  a little raw sugar on top...bake for approximately 10mins on each side or until golden and depending on your oven...serve with butter or jam

Margaret's
Bacon & Egg
Pie

Line a 26x38cm tray with baking paper. This bacon dish needs to be about 2cm deep.

2 sheets of Edmonds Flaky Puff Pastry, or home made pastry.

1 or 2 thinly chopped onions

500 grams chopped shoulder bacon or signature range naturally smoked streaky bacon.

1 dozen eggs (about)

salt (optional)

2 pinches pepper

chopped parsley (according to taste)

Grated cheese (optional and according to taste)

2 or 3 tomatoes thinly sliced

Arrange the Flaky Puff Pastry on the baking paper and place into the baking tray.

Break eggs into a bowl and mix together, add all other ingredients except the tomatoes. Mix together until combined.

Place evenly onto the pastry and add the thinly sliced tomatoes over the top of the pie.

Bake at 200°C  (therma-wave oven at 180°C) for 40 minutes or until it is well risen and golden. Serves 6.

If you don’t like bacon and cheese, you can use grated courgettes, finely chopped spinach, and finely chopped mushrooms, instead of the bacon and cheese. This makes a very nice quiche.

Di's
CHOCOLATE
CAKE

(Cake mix)

1 ¼ cups Pams self-raising flour

¾ cup Pams wholemeal flour

125 gms Olivani Lite margarine OR 150 mls Rice Bran oil

½ cup castor sugar

½ cup loosely packed brown sugar

3 slightly heaped tablespoons of cocoa

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs

½ cup Pams dark compound chocolate chips

I tablespoon Bushells Coffee & Chicory essence

¾ cup Anchor Zero Lacto Trim milk

Grease or line cake tin with baking paper. (I do both)

Place all the dry ingredients into a bowl, including chocolate chips and mix together. 

Then quickly add all the liquids, including eggs (have all the liquids measured out, ready to go).

Mix the whole lot together with electric mixer until well combined.

If the mix seems a bit thick or dry add a bit more milk, and mix in well. 

Spoon into 23 cm (or the approx equivalent size) cake tin.  Bake in moderate oven (I use 150 deg) for about 45 mins.

P.S: - I check cake quite often as our oven cooks fast.  Cake usually cracks on top but if you quickly touch it you can tell the middle isn’t cooked, so I usually end up turning the oven down a bit.

Cool cake in tin.

(Icing mix)

80 gms Pams dark compound chocolate chips

Big teaspoon coconut oil

50 mls water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Approx 2 cups icing sugar

Chopped nuts or halved glaze cherries (optional)

Place all ingredients except icing sugar in a saucepan. Heat on low, stirring until everything is melted and combined.  Beat in sifted icing sugar a bit at a time until icing is thick enough to spread on cake without running off edges.

Sprinkle chopped nuts on top, or add halved cherries etc.

Put the finished iced cake in the fridge for a while to make the icing set firm.

Written and produced by
Toby Longbottom, Paula Penfold and Eugene Bingham

Reported by
Eugene Bingham

Edited by
Toby Longbottom

^__

Sound recording
Phil Johnson and Eugene Bingham

Executive producer
Keith Lynch

Soundmix
David Liversidge at Radiate Sound

Archival sound recordings from the RNZ Collection at Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision.  

Stuff archives
Lesley Longstaff

Music
Audio Network

Commissioning editors
Carol Hirschfeld, Patrick Crewdson and Mark Stevens

Interactive designer
Suyeon Son

Digital audio wrangler
Alex Liu

Art
Toby Longbottom

Photography
Phil Johnson and Toby Longbottom

Marketing
Brittany Damon and Shereena Naran

Legal advice
Robert Stewart

^__

With thanks to Gerard Dutton, Forensic firearms and toolmark investigator, Tasmania; and John Barnett, for audio from “Beyond Reasonable Doubt”, Endeavour Ventures.