By Michael Morrah
One of New Zealand’s most notorious criminals is using a social networking site to criticise politicians and even claim he knows the identity of a police informant.
Repeat prison escapee Arthur Taylor is doing it from behind bars with the help of his wife who has been posting his messages and photos on Facebook.
Taylor escaped from a maximum security prison in 1988 and spent days on the run in the Coromandel.
Taylor's escaped on other occasions as well, but these days he's behind bars in Auckland's Paremoremo Prison.
But he's not cut off from the outside world, with his wife Carolyn helping to put him in touch with others.
“He started giving me the odd sentence to put in to sort of say what he's up to and then he started sending me of paper work,” she says.
It all went up on Facebook, including legal notes by Taylor who claimed he knew the identity of a police informant.
Mrs Taylor has since removed some of that material from Facebook.
“I thought that was a little bit stupid. I didn't really observe it properly. It was a bit silly. But as soon as I looked at it I took it down straight away,” she says.
Lawyer Barry Hart says posting such material can have legal ramifications, but it's difficult to control its release.
“It's a medium that everyone now has access to and there are not real checks and measures. That's the problem,” he says.
Taylor also used his message board to criticise police and Labour leader Phil Goff. Corrections says Taylor does have access to a computer in prison during set times, but he can't access the internet.
And as it happens Taylor's computer is currently being checked by police to ensure he's complying with his contract for its use.
As for Taylor's claim he knows a police informant, police say not everything on the internet is true.
Police say it is policy not to discuss any matters that could affect someone's safety. And they add that whether a person is a police informant or not can be jeopardised by irresponsible speculation
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