October 26, 2011

Sentencing delayed for alleged conman

Anne Clarkson at the Rangiora Court House

Sentencing has been delayed for an alleged conman said to have claimed he was made redundant from the Pike River coal mine, while he considers pleas on seven remaining charges.

The extra charges meant a scheduled Christchurch District Court sentencing for Edwin Henry Taylor at the Rangiora Court House today could not go ahead. He has admitted unlawfully taking two cars.

Taylor, 46, was instead remanded in custody to the prison court on November 10, and Judge Alistair Garland said the charges were serious and they needed to be resolved before he could be sentenced.

The judge said there was a trend in Christchurch, maybe because the courts were operating in ?camp sites?, to remand people to sentencing sittings when most of their matters had not yet been resolved.

Taylor had still not pleaded to several charges and his defence counsel, Gilbert Hay, asked for more time to sort the matters out.

A woman alleges she had let Taylor into her home for Christmas to help him after his ?redundancy?, but said he took her $4000 station wagon, and used a cheque to get between $500 and $1000 cash. She also loaned him $130.

Police say Taylor has been using different names and they have been collating files from around New Zealand.