Double murderer Mark Lundy free from prison

Wednesday, 7 May 2025

A man who bludgeoned his wife and daughter to death in a brutal attack at their Palmerston North home has been released from prison after serving more than 23 years.

Mark Lundy’s exact release date from Tongariro Prison was suppressed at a parole hearing in April, but Manawatū Standard can now reveal he has left the prison grounds.

The 66-year-old murdered Christine Lundy and Amber Lundy in at their Karamea Crescent home in August 2000, but despite twice being found guilty he has maintained his innocence.

Lundy was granted parole in April with conditions including a curfew and not to return to several regions including Manawatū, meaning there was also no ability for him to visit his victims’ graves.

He said, “thank you very much” when he heard the board’s decision, after earlier promising to comply with any conditions they wished to impose.

One of those was not to engage with the media, while the board also suppressed some details of the hearing, his exact release date and where he would be released to.

Lundy could be recalled at any time as someone who was serving a life term, and was due to see the board again in October who would monitor his progress while on parole.

The appearance was Lundy’s third before the board, but unlike his previous hearings, he was able to produce a safety plan identifying any triggers he might encounter outside of prison.

His lawyer Ella Burton said his continuous denials did not make him any more of a risk to the community, and together they had identified a series of theoretical situations for his safety plan.

She said he was not an aggressive person, but rather a hardworking and trustworthy prisoner who had a healthy bank account and good whānau support.

Psychiatrists also found his risk of reoffending was low, and she said it didn’t get any lower than that.

Lundy was first arrested in 2001 - six months after the murders - and in April 2002 he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.

He lodged an appeal against his convictions but this was rejected, although the Court of Appeal upheld one lodged by the Crown and increased his minimum term to 20 years.

Lundy then took his case to the Privy Council in 2012, and in 2013 the appeal was held in London.

His convictions were quashed and the Privy Council ordered a retrial, which was held in Wellington in 2015.

Again he was found guilty, and sentenced to the same term of life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years.

Lundy continued his fight though, and an appeal was heard in October 2017.

The Court of Appeal dismissed his case, and so too did the Supreme Court in 2019.

A review was then filed by his supporters with the Criminal Cases Review Commission, and after his parole was granted a spokesperson said they had never lost sight of their aim to find the truth of who committed the murders, and were grateful to the commission for continuing to investigate the case.