E42 | The Red Fox Tavern
The Veil26 Jul

E42 | The Red Fox Tavern

On Labour Weekend 1987, two disguised men walked into the Red Fox Tavern at Maramarua, shot the publican Chris Bush dead in front of his staff, and disappeared into the night with the contents of his safe. For more than thirty years, the case stayed cold. Then, in 2021, two men were convicted of the murder — one of them so notorious that his name was suppressed for years. In July 2026, the Supreme Court took those convictions apart, entered acquittals, and left a killing that is, once again, officially unsolved. This week on The Veil, we trace the case backwards from that courtroom: the night itself, the circumstantial evidence that was never quite enough, and the dead man whose alleged confession pointed somewhere else entirely. It's a story about the uneasy gap between what the law can prove and what we think we know. Some veils lift; this one fell closed again.


Sources

Supreme Court of New Zealand — Wilson v R [2026] NZSC 88 (judgment): https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2026/2026-NZSC-88.pdf

RNZ — "Red Fox Tavern murder: How the case and trial unfolded": https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/442059/red-fox-tavern-murder-how-the-case-and-trial-unfolded

RNZ — "Pair's convictions over Red Fox Tavern killing quashed by Supreme Court": https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/crime-and-justice/683311/pair-s-convictions-over-red-fox-tavern-killing-quashed-by-supreme-court

RNZ / The Detail — "The life and crimes of James Henry Wilson": https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/crime-and-justice/706724/the-life-and-crimes-of-james-henry-wilson

1News — "Red Fox Tavern killing convictions quashed by Supreme Court": https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/07/red-fox-tavern-killing-convictions-quashed-by-supreme-court/

NZ Herald — "Red Fox Tavern murder convictions overturned by Supreme Court, James Henry Wilson named": https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/red-fox-tavern-murder-convictions-overturned-by-supreme-court-james-henry-wilson-named/S7HLC2IW4RCMBKHM6RPZVKPXDY/

NZ Herald — "Red Fox Tavern murder: Two men found guilty after 33-year wait for justice" (2021): https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/red-fox-tavern-murder-trial-two-men-found-guilty-after-33-year-wait-for-justice/WZ4T6AHA4ISJHM6QUOXOE27OHI/

New Zealand Police — "Police acknowledge Supreme Court decision in Red Fox Tavern case": https://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/police-acknowledge-supreme-court-decision-red-fox-tavern-case

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.


If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(48)

E49 | How does it Feel to Hug a Murderer? (NZ)

E49 | How does it Feel to Hug a Murderer? (NZ)

In July 2011 Bruce Mouat came home drunk from a work function at 1am. Workmates walked him to his own front door. Minutes later he went backwards down the concrete steps outside it. He was 48, worked ...

10 Aug 39min

E48 | The Luna Park Ghost Train Fire (AUS)

E48 | The Luna Park Ghost Train Fire (AUS)

On a quiet winter Saturday in 1979, three separate passengers rode the Ghost Train at Sydney's Luna Park, saw a small fire burning inside an imitation fireplace, and thought it was part of the show. M...

9 Aug 49min

E45 | The Gatton Murders (AUS)

E45 | The Gatton Murders (AUS)

There was no Australia yet. Six British colonies, six sets of laws, and a farming town of fewer than five hundred people west of Brisbane. On Boxing Day 1898, Michael Murphy and his sisters Norah and ...

3 Aug 43min

E44 | The Murder of Pauline Sowry (AUS)

E44 | The Murder of Pauline Sowry (AUS)

Pauline Sowry was 49 when she had lunch with her son at a Warrawong pub in December 1993. Her family never saw her again. A coroner found she had died but could not say how, when or where. Thirty year...

2 Aug 44min

E43 | The Masterton Massacre

E43 | The Masterton Massacre

On a winter Friday night in 1992, Raymond Ratima let himself into his in-laws' house on Judds Road, Masterton, with a key he had taken when he was told to leave. He waited forty-five minutes. Then he ...

27 Jul 42min

E41 | The Bounty's Children

E41 | The Bounty's Children

In 1790, the mutineers of HMS Bounty burned their ship in a hidden bay and vanished onto a mis-charted Pacific rock, sealing themselves off from the world. Two centuries later, that isolation had a pr...

29 Jun 37min

E40 | Mona Blades

E40 | Mona Blades

On Queen's Birthday weekend, 1975, eighteen-year-old Mona Blades set out hitchhiking from Hamilton to Hastings, carrying a birthday gift of plastic cups for her baby nephew. She reached Taupō — and va...

28 Jun 29min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
konspirasjonspodden
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
popradet
alt-fortalt
grenselos
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
wolfgang-wee-uncut
synnve-og-vanessa
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
bokmerket-2
den-politiske-situasjonen
frokostshowet-pa-p5
aftenpodden-usa
rss-siktet
fladseth
rss-frekvens-med-anine-olsen