Meth boss back behind bars after breaching parole

A gangster who ran a methamphetamine ring while serving jail time for shooting a Mongrel Mob president and assaulting another Mobster has been recalled to prison after breaching his parole.

Despite claiming he had been clean of drugs since the mid1990s, Brian Paul Taylor’s breach involved smoking meth.

He pleaded guilty in the Palmerston North District Court on Tuesday to breaching parole.

He was granted parole in May after serving almost all of a 20-year term for a smorgasbord of crimes.

He initially went inside for minor offending, but his stretch lengthened significantly after being convicted of other offences.

He shot then-mongrel Mob president Sovite Su’a with a .22 rifle fitted with a telescopic sight in February 2003, a revenge attack for the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Whatuira Wallace a year earlier.

Taylor, a Black Power member at the time, also committed an aggravated robbery in February 2003 when he broke into a different Mobster’s house, gave them the bash and stole their gang patch.

His sentence was up to 14 years when he decided to run a meth ring, despite being an inmate at Manawatū Prison.

His mother Marlene, a Justice of the Peace, was jailed for three years and five months and stripped of her title for providing finance while Zion Cody Kingston Pene was the primary pusher of the product outside prison.

All three were jailed for their involvement, with Taylor the last one to be released.

Despite having an extremely high risk of reoffending, Taylor was deemed ready for release due to his significant community support.

The Parole Board noted his change in attitude, from confrontational and antiestablishment to wanting to work with people trying to help him, was not an overnight occurrence.

‘‘For many years Mr Taylor had adopted a degree of hostility towards the ‘system’ but since he had realised that there was a need to change his behaviour his progress has been marked,’’ the board said in its report on his May hearing.

He had a plethora of special conditions he had to abide by, including abstinence from drugs and alcohol.

In court on Tuesday, defence lawyer Steve Winter said Taylor breached his parole and was recalled to prison due to using meth once.

He would not be considered for parole until November with his sentence due to expire in June 2023, which Winter said should be taken into account when deciding any additional penalty

Judge Jonathan Krebs agreed, noting Taylor had ‘‘paid a heavy price’’ for his breach.