Killer Goes Free: Timothy Taylor Gained Parole 21 Years After Killing Canterbury Woman Lisa Blakie

A man convicted of one of Canterbury’s most significant murders will be released from prison next month after convincing the Parole Board that he is no longer a risk to the community.

Timothy Taylor was
sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of the murder of Lisa Blakie in February 2000.

He was locked up for more than 20 years and was denied parole eight times in the past, but today the board agreed to release him from prison in less than a month.

The 20-year-old died while hitchhiking from Christchurch to Greymouth.

His body was found on Waitangi Day, carried by a rock in the river near Arthur’s Pass.

Taylor, now 51, has always denied murdering Blakie.

He takes his case to the Criminal Case Review Commission, with the support of Blakie’s family.

He became eligible for parole in 2012, but has been denied an early release each time.

To this day, the killer has never been able to convince the board that he would not pose an undue risk to the safety of the community if he were released.

Today he appeared before a Board of Parole panel convened by President Sir Ron Young and spoke about his journey from crime, gangs, drugs and addiction and his commitment to his future.

The Herald attended today’s hearing.

When Taylor appeared last year, it emerged that he had had problems in jail, including trying to smuggle.

He had also had ongoing problems with “gambling activity.”

At the time, the board recommended that Taylor should “turn his attention to his rule-breaking tendencies.”

Today he explained that he has been sober for more than 23 years and drug free for 14 months.

He had triumphed over the “door rush” that had seen him “self-sabotage” every time he was near a parole hearing.

He said anxiety and fear around the hearings pushed him to make bad decisions and get into trouble in jail.

However, he was now focused on his future.

“My mental space was not in the right place … I was probably mad at everyone and myself for disappointing everyone,” he said.

“But all that changed … I moved to another unit [in prison] and I reflected on myself, I started to focus on my children, my grandchildren, myself, my support people.

“Every time I have come to the Parole Board I have let you down, every time there has been misconduct or something negative, but while I was in this unit I started to work on myself, staying in my own bubble.”

He worked off the wire on a farm and that kept him busy during the day.

At night he opted to be locked up early and stayed away from bad influences and prisoners who had been part of his self-sabotage in the past.

Taylor explained how he repeatedly turned down drugs during the Christmas and New Years period and was “focused” on improving himself.

“I want this now, I want to go home.

“I don’t want to get involved in those things anymore … I said no right away … I isolated myself from all that, I kept myself safe.”

Taylor said he was excited about his future and planned to spend as much time as he could with his three adult daughters and five grandchildren.

He knew that from the outside it would be a challenge to stay away from drugs, gangs, and old colleagues who may still have antisocial lifestyles.

But he assured the board that he planned to take his new life “day by day” and solve problems as soon as they arose.

“Baby steps,” he said.

“I’m definitely not going down the path of an ancient past … I have to be prepared and stay safe.

“It’s about the future, taking things day by day and staying away from negative things, mixing in with the right crowd of people … I know it won’t be easy.

“And if I feel like I’m backing down a path from the past, that’s where I have to be open with my support people and speak up and let them know that I’m not traveling well.

“It’s a whole new path for me … I’m an addict but now I see the consequences … I just have to stay safe … I can’t put any rule breaker in the category of friend.

“I just need to take each day as it comes and handle it correctly … it’s about what I’m doing and what I’m doing right.”

Sir Ron Young said it was time for Taylor to be paroled and carve out a new life for himself, but he would be subject to strict conditions for the rest of his life.

One of those conditions was a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, but that would be reviewed at a monitoring hearing in October.

Taylor will be released on April 7 and will move into a residential community house to begin with.

He thanked the board “very much” and said he was “humbled” by the positive feedback he heard from the audience.

“I’ve been working really hard in the last 12 months, so to hear that, it’s amazing,” he said.

Lisa Blakie’s family was informed of the decision shortly after the hearing concluded.

Her father Doug now believes that Taylor, while involved in the murder, did not physically kill his daughter.

Previous parole hearings detailed Taylor’s other crime, including convictions for dishonesty and rape.

While Taylor maintains that he did not kill Blakie, the police insist they found the right man.

“There is no evidence to indicate the involvement of anyone other than Tim Taylor in the kidnapping and murder of Lisa Blakie,” Detective Inspector Greg Murton previously said.

Any “credible” evidence provided to the police to suggest otherwise would be “closely examined.”