December 9, 2010 2:00pm by David Farrar

A sadistic crime

Antonio Bradley at the Dom Post reports:

A vindictive former employee tormented a Hutt Valley family for 18 months, falsely convincing them through anonymous letters that their elderly father had been murdered in his rest home.

Peter Glen, 88, died of natural causes in March last year.

Five weeks later, his five grieving children began receiving poison letters claiming that a mentally impaired fellow resident smothered their father with a pillow.

“I saw him come out of your daddy’s room the morning he died with a pillow in his hand and a crazed look on his face. He really scares me. You must do something before he kills someone else,” one letter said.

Then, on December 23, they received a Christmas card, supposedly from the murderer, gloating about the killing.

“Finishing off your pappy with his own pillow was so much fun. The lingering rancid stench reminds me of the dark cold night. Now I have another odor to remind me of the old hag who ratted me out – Shes dead now too.”

Police began an investigation into the murder claims, interviewing staff at St Joseph’s Home of Compassion in Upper Hutt, as well as family of the residents.

They considered exhuming the body as the investigation stalled several times over the course of a year.

Eventually, they tracked down the offender by matching his handwriting, court documents show.

The man, 55, of Heretaunga, who is fighting to keep his name suppressed, appeared in Upper Hutt District Court yesterday and admitted sending the letters, pleading guilty to two charges of causing wasteful deployment of police resources.

He will face a maximum of three months’ imprisonment on each charge when he is sentenced early next year.

The death letters were designed to punish Mr Glen’s son, Vince, who was involved in sacking the man from his job as a Hutt Hospital storeman in August 2006, the family believe.

In his role as the hospital’s employee relations manager, Vince Glen conducted an investigation that found the offender guilty of serious misconduct. Vince Glen and his siblings spoke to The Dominion Post yesterday, and released the Christmas card to show how “sickening” it was.