The moment Stephen Stone walks free, after Crown says no retrial for murders of Deane Fuller-Sandys and Leah Stephens
Wednesday, 30 April 2025
The Crown has decided not to pursue a retrial for Stephen Stone over the deaths of Dean Fuller-Sandys and Leah Stephens.
His convictions for the 1989 murders and the rape of Stephens were quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2024.
He spent 27 years in jail for the crimes before walking free on Wednesday.
The wait for Stephen Stone is over. On Wednesday he has walked out of the High Court at Auckland a free man after the Crown decided not to re-try him in relation to two murders. But the question remains: what happened to Deane Fuller-Sandys and Leah Stephens in 1989?
Stone strode from the court, refusing to speak to reporters outside.
Stephen Stone’s convictions were quashed in October 2024, alongside the conviction against Gail Maney, for ordering the killing of Fuller-Sandys.
The court found Maney was a victim of a miscarriage of justice and acquitted her of the crime alongside two others. But the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial for Stone who had spent 27 years behind bars before he was released on bail in October.
On Wednesday at the High Court at Auckland, Auckland’s Crown Solicitor Alysha McClintock said having examined this matter “very carefully” and considered all the available evidence, the Crown won’t be pursuing Stone to the retrial.
“Here I have concluded there is no longer sufficient evidence to support Mr Stone being tried,” McClintock said.
Annabel Maxwell-Scott, acting on behalf of Stone, said after 27 years she would be seeking a discharge on the charges.
‘You are free to leave the dock and the court’
Justice Timothy Brewer discharged Stone on all the charges.
“You are free to leave the dock and the court,” Justice Brewer said.
Stone left the dock and wouldn’t comment to reporters outside court.
But Maxwell-Scott and private investigator Tim McKinnel spoke outside court.
Maxwell-Scott said the case was engineered by the police.
“The evidence against all of these defendants was not credible, and we're just extremely disappointed that we're still here seven years having to fight this, it is disappointing for the families of those who died by misadventure or by murders by others, and this is really not a victory for anybody,” she said.
Maxwell-Scott said this was an “extremely sad day for the criminal justice system”.
And the fight continues.
‘That’s outrageous’
McKinnel said he found it “increasingly frustrating” to listen to the Crown’s statement.
“There was no acknowledgement of their own role in these miscarriages of justice, and they gave the distinct impression that they believe Stephen has done something, and that's outrageous.”
In the Crown’s statement, McClintock said the first factor of significance in considering the decision was that three witnesses are no longer available.
Additional ESR testing on samples has been carried out and it has not produced any results of further evidential matters.
McClintock said the Crown also considered Stone’s various admissions to the murders between 2008 and 2010.
“Mr Stone provided an affidavit for the appeal saying he accepted responsibility solely in order to gain admissions into certain courses to get parole. Mr Stone's admissions do not in and of themselves provide a basis for prosecution in all circumstances given the standard.”
The events of 1989
In August 1989, a 21-year-old Fuller-Sandys told his parents he was going fishing.
His car was found in Auckland’s Whatipu Beach carpark the following day. From then until 1997, the police believed Fuller-Sandys had likely died by drowning. His body has never been found.
Leah Stephens was 20 when she went missing. She was last seen alive by a friend and fellow sex worker at about 11.30pm and August 26, 1989.
Stephens’ body was found in June 1992 by a man walking his dog near Muriwai Golf Club.
A friend of Stephens previously told Stuff she wanted the Crown to re-try Stone.
Erica Brandt previously said she still firmly believed that Stone killed Stephens, despite problems with the Crown case.
Earlier on Wednesday McKinnel, whose work on the case helped expose the wrongful convictions, said four people had spent well over 40 years in prison for something they didn’t do, and families’ lives had been ruined by a “disgraceful” police investigation.
“I think it’s worse than incompetence. The investigation in its entirety was totally corrupted.
“And I don’t think we’ve ever before seen a case where four people have been convicted in two supposed murders, where the scenarios are complete and utter fantasies. They did not happen.
“This is not a case of the wrong people being charged, this isn’t a case of some simple error - these events never occurred at all.”
McKinnel said all the evidence pointed to Fuller-Sandys drowning while fishing at Whatipu.
Stephens had undoubtedly been murdered, but not the way police and prosecutors claimed, and not by those accused of her killing, he said.
“My view is that Leah Stephens’ murderer likely remains at large, and they have gotten away with murder for decades.”
McKinnel, who also helped prove the innocence of Teina Pora and Alan Hall, said it was arguably the worst wrongful conviction case in New Zealand’s history.
“Just because of the scale of it, because the prosecution was based on a fantastical story that simply wasn’t true, the number of people that have been harmed - even in an international context, I think it’s a significant case.”
McKinnel had no doubt all four accused were entirely innocent, and an independent review of how the police investigation had gone so badly wrong, was required.
“There needs to be accountability for what’s occurred, and a wide-ranging inquiry into each of the layers of the justice system that have failed. It needs some sort of commission of inquiry, led by an independent King’s Counsel - this can not be an internal police investigation.”
Stone would apply for compensation for the time he had spent in prison, but even if he was successful, it would be difficult for him to move on, McKinnel said.
“He’s had so much taken from him - as Gail has. He remains angry. But he wants to enjoy the rest of his life, now he’s no longer a double murderer.”
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