Paul Verdon: Midnight Express-type case puts NZ legal system in poor light

Allan Titford – a miscarriage of justice?

Midnight Express was the memorable 1978 movie that told the true story of Billy Hayes, a young American man caught by Turkish police attempting to smuggle hashish out of Istanbul. He was tried and sent to prison for four years, where he experienced much privation and abuse. But as he finished his time, he was shocked to learn that the Turkish High Court had added a further 30 years to his sentence. Now thoroughly demoralised, Hayes’ life in prison grew increasingly unbearable, until he concluded that escape was his only option …

Remarkably, there are some bizarre comparisons to be found in the story of Billy Hayes 40 years ago and that of New Zealand’s own Allan Titford, who was incarcerated in 2013 for 24 years, arguably for his first convictions. The most obvious parallel from this reviewer’s perspective is that both men could be labelled ‘a political prisoner’ of a sort!

Mike Butler: Treaty try-on forces farmer to sell

Allan Titford did not know what he had stepped into when he bought land 40km north of Dargaville that he intended to farm and subdivide. That was nearly 27 years ago. Within seven years, he was one of several farmers forced off their land as a result of trumped-up treaty claim and a farcical Waitangi Tribunal inquiry.

The Te Roroa claim is not the only “grievance” that started out as an opportunistic try-on that gained a kind of standing by repeated petitions to parliament.