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.
On Friday, at the High Court at Auckland, Justice Mark Woolford sentenced the pair to life imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years. In a victim impact statement, Bush’s widow Gaye Bush said she had her whole life to look forward to with her husband and that was taken away when he was killed.
NZ POLICE/Supplied
Chris Bush was a proud publican and manager of the Red Fox Tavern before he was fatally shot in 1987. The once-close family have since become estranged, the bar staff were left traumatised and despite giving up hope of a conviction, there was now a sense of relief and closure.
Red Fox Tavern murder: Two men jailed for life, 33 years after Christopher Bush killed
6 May, 2021 10:38 PM
5 minutes to read
A man with name suppression and Mark Joseph Hoggart have been on trial in the High Court at Auckland for seven weeks.
A man with name suppression and Mark Joseph Hoggart have been on trial in the High Court at Auckland for seven weeks.
The widow of slain Red Fox Tavern publican Christopher Bush has welcomed a sense of relief and justice after the two culprits were jailed for life.
Gaye Bush said today s sentencing brought an end to a painful chapter of her life, 33 years after the murder.
Two men jailed for life, 33 years after Red Fox tavern murder Fri, 7 May 2021, 10:43AM
Christopher Bush, 43, and a father of two, was shot dead in October 1987. (Photo / Supplied)
Two men jailed for life, 33 years after Red Fox tavern murder Fri, 7 May 2021, 10:43AM
The widow of slain Red Fox Tavern publican Christopher Bush has welcomed a sense of relief and justice after the two culprits were jailed.
Mark Joseph Hoggart, and a second man with name suppression, were found guilty in March of aggravated robbery and the murder of father-of-two Bush.
The pair will be eligible for parole after serving 10 years in prison, as the law requires they be sentenced according to penalties available in 1987 when the murder happened.
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