Red Fox Tavern Murder Trial: Police Officer Says Investigation Eliminated Another Suspect

A police officer says he was satisfied that it was correct to indict the two men on trial for the infamous fatal robbery at the Red Fox Tavern and says another suspect who was designated by multiple prisoners was removed from the investigation.

A name-suppressed man and Mark Joseph Hoggart are on trial for the 1987 aggravated robbery of the pub and the murder of its owner, Christopher Bush, in Waikato.

La Corona says two heavily disguised intruders, wearing ski masks and gloves, broke into the back door of the Maramarua tavern on work weekend.

One allegedly fired a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun, killing Bush before his three staff members were tied up and just over $ 36,000 stolen.

Detective Sergeant Michael Hayward began reading his 53-page signed statement to the jury today, recounting an investigation that spanned several phases.

“Despite widespread public interest and a large police investigation in mid-1988, the investigation was canceled without anyone being charged,” he said.

Some 230 people, including the accused, have been investigated as persons of interest as a result of the information received, it said.

The two defendants tried in Auckland High Court had initially been appointed by Philip Dunbier on Christmas Eve 1987.

Both defendants were interviewed the following January and the addresses linked to them were also recorded, the court heard.

A review of the file was initiated in 1999 and a further investigation was carried out that included new leads.

“Once again, the police made the determination that there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone at that time,” Hayward said.

In October 2016, the Manukau County Police opened a new investigation dubbed Operation Leon, inheriting around 100 Eastlight files of previously recorded information.

As a result of the new investigation, the two defendants were indicted in August of the following year.

“Ultimately, I was satisfied that it was appropriate to charge the defendants with murder and aggravated robbery and that none of the other nominations affected that assessment,” Hayward said.

He said he found that many of the other nominations had been made for no reason, “sometimes no more than hunches” and some more were made maliciously.

For the purposes of the case, he detailed how Lester Hamilton, now deceased, was removed as a police suspect in late 1987.

The court heard that later, in November 1980, Hamilton was sentenced by a Superior Court judge to six years in prison for the aggravated robbery of a Manurewa post office.

He was the driver of the escape, while two other perpetrators were armed with a sawed-off shotgun and a baseball bat.

In the days following Bush’s death, Hamilton was nominated as a person of interest, a suggestion that gained some momentum after police spoke with two of his friends.

One said Hamilton had vetoed a suggestion to withdraw a job at Red Fox Tavern, saying it was “too local and there was no place to hide.”

The other associate said Hamilton’s plan to rob the pub involved taking Bush hostage at his home on a Sunday night and threatening to cut off his wife’s toe.

In November 1987, Hamilton called police saying he knew he was “the number one suspect” in the Red Fox Tavern murder and wanted to speak, the court heard.

He told police he was with friends that night, whom he later visited to ask to corroborate his story, the court heard.

Hamilton later told police that he was elsewhere, claiming that he had confused his Saturdays and did not want his wife to know where he was.

He denied having “raised” this alibi.

Claims against Hamilton

In 1991 and 1992, a “considerable amount” of police time was spent investigating a claim made by a prisoner that three men, including Hamilton, had each confessed to him separately.

The three men had previously been eliminated by the police at the time.

There were many fantastic aspects, Hayward told jurors, and the account did not match the facts of the Red Fox Tavern crime.

There was evidence that the inmate had been trying to be transferred from Paremoremo prison to a lower security prison, the court heard.

It was one of several nominations made for Hamilton, and another inmate suggested it in March 1993.

This advice eventually led officers to speak with a Hamilton associate in prison.

“I never heard or saw any hard evidence that it was them,” he told officers.

In August 1994 another nomination was made.

This person claimed to have overheard Hamilton tell an associate that he had shot Bush while they were drinking in a tavern in Papatoetoe.

However, Hamilton was in Mt Eden Prison when this allegedly occurred, the court heard.