Two men have been sentenced to life in jail for the 1987 Red Fox Tavern murder of Christopher Bush
Two men have been sentenced to life in jail for the 1987 Red Fox Tavern murder of Christopher Bush 7 May 2021
Mark Joseph Hoggart and an accomplice, who has name suppression, appeared in the High Court at Auckland this morning.
The pair, whose life sentences come with a non-parole period of 10 years, were found guilty in March after a seven week trial.
Alongside their life sentences for murder, Hoggart will also serve seven years concurrently for aggravated robbery and the other man will serve eight years concurrently.
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Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
Mark Hoggart and another man - who cannot be named - were on trial in the High Court at Auckland earlier this year, charged with murder and aggravated robbery.
The men were arrested in 2017, after police began reinvestigating the high-profile cold case in 2016.
It was the third-time-lucky for the investigation team: Hoggart and the other man had been considered the prime suspects in the earlier investigations, but there was never enough evidence to arrest them and lay charges.
During the trial, the Crown said the case against the two men was largely circumstantial - but the evidence pointed to them being the heavily disguised offenders who burst into the tavern late on the night of 24 October 1987.