Last updated 20:35, April 30 2018
POLICE
Police are seeking Dean Raymond Purdy, 54, who has a warrant for his arrest.
Police are seeking Dean Raymond Purdy, 54, who has a warrant for his arrest.
A convicted killer who strangled his wife to death is on the run from police in Canterbury.
Police are searching for 54-year-old Dean Raymond Purdy, who has a warrant for his arrest for a breach of his parole release conditions.
Purdy, then 27, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1991 after he strangled his wife Debbie Purdy in Auckland after they argued over her work as a prostitute. Her body was found in a toilet cubicle behind Karangahape Rd.
It is not the first time Purdy has breached his parole conditions. In 2014, he was recalled from parole after police caught him approaching prostitutes.
Three weeks later Purdy escaped while he was being escorted to a Department of Corrections van after a medical appointment at Christchurch Hospital.
The van was parked in an ambulance bay and when Corrections officers went to remove his handcuffs, he turned away and ran off towards the back of the hospital.
One Corrections officer chased him on foot, another in the van, and he was recaptured in Cashel St a short time later.
Purdy's defence lawyer said his client "jogged away, rather than ran" for 250 metres before being caught.
In 2008, Purdy left the Salisbury Street Foundation, where he was attending a 16-week programme, without permission. He was free for two days before surrendering to police.
His explanation to the Christchurch District Court back then was that he needed "time out".
Anyone with information on Purdy's whereabouts is asked to call their local police station or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.