Blackmoore’s killer denies shifting the blame to feel better

The killer of Christchurch woman Angela Blackmoore has denied identifying two alleged associates to shift the blame and make him feel less guilty.

Jeremy Powell, 49, gave evidence on Wednesday against David Peter Hawken, 50, and Rebecca Elizabeth Wright-Meldrum, 51, in the second week of their trial on charges of being parties to the murder of Angela Blackmoore, 21, on August 17, 1995.

Powell confessed to the murder in a police interview on October 25, 2019, after he was identified through information elicited by police with a $100,000 reward. He claimed he and Wright-Meldrum were acting on orders from Hawken and they were to be paid $10,000.

Anne Stevens KC for Hawken accused Powell of shifting the blame to get a lighter sentence and also to “make you feel less guilty”.

Powell said he took full blame for the killing.

“I made a series of very poor choices that led to Angela Blackmoore dying but I made those choices.”

He denied the killing was for his own satisfaction and gratification as suggested by Stevens. Powell also rejected the notion of driving the knife through her forehead and brain was completely self indulgent.

“It was to make sure she was dead,” he said.

He agreed it was a cruel act and she died in terrible circumstances.

He did not agree it was nonsense he was scared of Hawken because at the time Hawken made threats over if he didn’t kill Blackmoore, he thought the threats were real.

He told Stevens he believed Wright-Meldrum inflicted some of the knife wounds on Blackmoore.

He couldn’t remember much about the murder, but he had been killing animals for food since he was a teenager and he believed he “would have made a better job of it”.

He did not believe he was not as guilty by saying he did not remember the stabbing, he said. He remembered intending in the moment to stab Blackmoore in the head but could not remember doing it.

Powell agreed he had been prepared to use his being under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the interview to challenge his confession as inadmissible evidence.

When Stevens suggested he was essentially saying he was really a good guy and he was made to kill Angela Blackmoore, he agreed.

Stevens said it was not plausible to suggest he had been scared of Hawken who had a limp and was of slim build.

Powell said Hawken was scary and denied making up a story that Hawken claimed to be responsible for six murders up north.

He agreed he had lived a lie for 24 years and carried on with his life as best he could.

After Stevens took him through favourite phrases he collected in a notebook in his 20s, he accepted he had a preoccupation with death.

In other evidence he said he initially aborted an attempt to kill Blackmoore because he “chickened out” and Hawken had threatened to kill him and Wright-Meldrum and made threats against his family if he didn’t follow through.

He understood Hawken wanted Blackmoore dead because of a life insurance policy and that Angela’s ex-husband William Blackmoore would get the house he owned with Angela. Hawken would get a payment from William, Powell said.

Wright-Meldrum chose the day and time to carry out the murder and did the planning, he said.

Hawken had suggested using the bat and they wanted to knock out Blackmoore so she would not feel any pain. The idea was to knock her out and then slit her throat.

Powell said he didn’t want to kill Blackmoore but he wanted to impress Wright-Meldrum who was driving the murder. The money was important too because it was more money than he could have imagined.

He got on well with Hawken but he was intimidating and also had gang connections.

After they arrived at Blackmoore’s Wainoni address on August 17, 1995, it was dark and once inside Wright-Meldrum gave him the signal.

She got Angela into the kitchen to make coffee and distracted her when he hit her with the bat. He hit her three or four times on the head with the bat breaking.

He couldn’t remember stabbing Blackmoore but Wright-Meldrum had cleaned up the blood with a tea towel.

Powell said he was 19 when he met Wright-Meldrum and they began a whirlwind romance based on lust.

“It was brilliant at the start.”

Before his relationship with Wright-Meldrum, he was living in Oxford and had a normal family that went to church on Sundays.

Powell said he didn’t know there was a child in the house when he killed Blackmoore and didn’t know she was pregnant.

He was “horrified” when he found out, he said.

After the murder he felt panicked and scared but Wright-Meldrum appeared more in control.

When he got home after the murder he drank half a bottle of gin and drank heavily when the killing was referred to in subsequent years.

He went to see Hawken about a week after Blackmoore’s death and he told them to keep quiet. He said “snitches are a dying breed literally”.

Hawken never paid him or Wright-Meldrum the money, he said.

He broke up with Wright-Meldrum when he caught her in bed with another man.

Powell said he was shell shocked after his confession and “just stunned”. He had used MDMA and drank a few bourbons and cokes before he was picked up by the police for his interview.

He was surprised he had confessed. “I think that I’d had enough of holding it in.”

Relief came a lot later, he said. He stood by his confession.

Hawken had destroyed a lot of lives “including mine” and Wright-Meldrum was as much a victim as he was.

His concern about confessing was the pain he had caused everyone. “Angela couldn’t be brought back. I didn’t want to hurt anyone else.”

He didn’t think about his co-offenders, he said.

Hawken and Wright-Meldrum deny charges of being parties to the murder of Angela Blackmoore.

The trial continues.