Dear New Zealand Police,

I request the following information under the Official Information Act 1982 in relation to the use of prison informant evidence in criminal proceedings, with particular reference to the Supreme Court judgment in Tamihere v R [2026] NZSC 22, delivered on 31 March 2026, which quashed the murder convictions of David Wayne Tamihere on the basis that perjured evidence from prison informant Robert Conchie Harris rendered the 1990 trial fundamentally unfair.

I reside in New Zealand and am eligible to make this request.

The date range for Requests 2, 3, and 4 is 1 September 2017 (the date of Harris's perjury conviction) to the date this request is processed. Request 1 covers all dates.

1. Any New Zealand Police policy, guideline, standard operating procedure, or instruction governing the recruitment and use of prison informants as witnesses in criminal proceedings, including any version current at the time of the Operation Stockholm investigation (1989–1990) and any version current today.

2. Any internal review, investigation report, or lessons-learned document produced by New Zealand Police following Harris's perjury conviction in September 2017, relating to the Tamihere investigation specifically or to prison informant practice generally.

3. Any correspondence between New Zealand Police and Crown Law regarding changes to practice or protocol on the use of prison informant evidence.

4. Whether New Zealand Police maintains any register, database, or record of individuals who have provided evidence as prison informants in criminal proceedings, and if so, a description of what that register contains, not its contents.

This request is not directed at the identity of any informant, information that would reveal current investigative techniques, or material relating to any ongoing operational matter. It is directed at concluded policy, internal review, and systemic accountability material. I note the Ombudsman's guidance that s 6(c) of the Act does not extend post-investigation to policy and review documents of the kind described above.

Where documents are withheld in whole or in part, I request that the specific grounds under the Act be identified for each withholding.

This request has been filed via fyi.org.nz. Please send your response to this request via fyi.org.nz rather than directly to the requester.

Yours faithfully,

Lance D. Lavery