A high-profile killer has been recalled to prison for allegedly manufacturing methamphetamine - and he is blaming financial hardship for his offending.
Dean Wickliffe, 63, was arrested on December 2, alongside another man, in the Bay of Plenty town of Maketu, and charged with manufacturing the drug, known as P.
As a lifetime parolee, Wickliffe was instantly recalled to prison.
In its recall decision, released on Thursday, the Parole Board said Wickliffe was an "undue risk to the safety of the community".
"Mr Wickliffe faces another term of imprisonment of uncertain length ... There being no other options, a final recall order is now made."
Wickliffe told the Parole Board in December he would accept responsibility for the methamphetamine charge and planned to plead guilty.
He explained his offending was due to "the diminution in his work and the problem he has in coping financially".
The Parole Board said it was likely Wickliffe would be sentenced in March, but it was not clear what length of sentence he would receive.
Wickliffe has spent more than 30 years in prison for a raft of offences, including the 1972 manslaughter of a Wellington jeweller.
He has been released and recalled back to prison numerous times, and was most recently released on parole in May last year, after a stint behind bars on weapons and drugs charges.
NZN