By Vaughan Elder & 3news.co.nz staff
Convicted double killer John Barlow and his family will continue to fight to prove his innocence after he is released on parole next week, his wife says.
The Parole Board, after a hearing yesterday, announced that Barlow, 64, who was convicted in 1995 of the execution-style killings of Wellington father and son businessmen Eugene and Gene Thomas the previous year, would be allowed to re-enter the community.
Barlow has maintained his innocence. He has previously been denied parole three times.
His wife of 40 years, Angela Barlow, told NZPA that the family was pleased he had been released but added that they would continue to fight to prove his innocence.
"We were obviously very pleased about it, we've waited along time," Mrs Barlow said.
"We're are going to get on with our lives, we're not going to be obsessed by it, but of course we will be trying to get new evidence to overturn his convictions," she said.
Meanwhile Barlow’s sister Anne Barlow says she is confident the public has nothing to fear when he is released.
Suggestions he still has an inappropriate attitude toward guns are wrong, she says.
“I don’t think the public have got anything to worry about as far as him with guns. The parole board were satisfied, he’s never shown any inclination to go down that track again,” she told RadioLIVE this morning.
“We feel he is very safe.”
Mrs Barlow has said she never doubted her husband's innocence and said last night that the evidence suggested he did not commit the crime.
"Apart from the fact that I know John very well.. I know the evidence from top to bottom probably more than any body else along with my daughter," she said.
Angela Barlow was thankful for all the support from friends and family who had been calling all yesterday to congratulate them on the news.
Barlow had dealt with prison life very well and did not get depressed after attempts to prove his innocence failed, she said
"He's done remarkably well considering what they have put him through.”
When Barlow comes home the family would have a quiet celebration but most of all they wanted things to return to normal, she said.
"We've had a hard road trying to get his conviction overturned with appeals trials and so forth, at least to have home will be something," she said
Barlow is to be released from prison under six special conditions which he must adhere to for five years, a Parole Board statement said.
These conditions include living at an address approved by his probation officer, not to possess guns, not to contact any former inmates or have any contact with the families of the victims.
Barlow, an antique valuer at the time of the murders, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 14 years after being convicted in a rare third trial, but has always maintained his innocence.
In two previous trials the juries were not able to come to unanimous verdict.
Barlow's lawyer Greg King told NZPA that the Barlow family would have preferred him to "have walked out with his convictions quashed".
"We've done everything we can do for now but the file's still open and if new information comes forward we will certainly be assessing it and doing what we can," Mr King said
Barlow's daughter Keryn, who has an honours degree in criminology, has written a book about the case, which her mother said could be released later this year
NZPA