The NZ Herald
February 4, 2004
Police cover-up allegations:
Blunt talker, straight-up guy
by Julie Middleton
Former Detective
Chief Inspector Rex Miller is a blunt talker with a dry sense of humour. He is
frequently politically incorrect and fond of the odd colourful word.
But he is also articulate and straight-up. At one point in a wide-ranging
conversation, he says: "If you tell the truth you don't have to have a
good memory."
And he doesn't regret for a moment speaking out in support of mother-of-three
Louise Nicholas, who has accused three men, all then policemen, of raping her
in 1986, when she was 18. Mr Miller, then a detective chief inspector, was
engaged by the Police Complaints Authority to look into the whole affair. But
he says he was hamstrung by a wall of silence and alleges interference by John
Dewar, then the head of Rotorua CIB.
Mr Dewar strongly rejects the claims and says he fully investigated Mrs
Nicholas' complaints.
Mr Miller now says "if there is something to be resolved from it, let's resolve
it. Not just for the three [officers] involved but for all cops who have to
walk the beat tomorrow.
"I want to see it [the inquiry] bloody finished. If things aren't resolved
to the nth degree, they always have a habit of jumping out of the cupboard."
Maybe that belief, and some niggling cop's sixth sense, led him to take into
retirement his notebook with details of interviews with Mrs Nicholas. "I
did, for some unknown reason, keep my notebook because I had some unease,"
he says.
He hopes he will be asked to assist with the latest investigation.
In a Waikato Times story on the eve of his retirement in 1999, Mr Miller was
described as an old-school policeman, "staunch, conservative and an expert
at dodging questions ... [he] has a gruff temperament that borders on
grumpiness. He is also wise, very wise".
The story also said that some called him "dinosaur" behind his back.
Ask Mr Miller to describe himself and he says, instantly: "Straight down
the middle. I call a spade a spade ... and I speak my mind."
When he was in the police he expected everyone, junior staff included, to speak
up if they had issues or ideas. But, he says, "I'm pretty bloody
average".
However, he has inspired another generation of officers: one daughter and a son
are police officers in
These days Mr Miller is golfing and fishing and teases that in being married to
his wife, Jill, for 39 years, he has done nearly three life sentences.
Although Mr Miller says of his career that "every day was a
highlight" - and that "it's a bloody highlight every day you wake up
in the morning and you're breathing" - several events stand out.
Among them is the case of English tourist Margery Hopegood,
stabbed to death by Wayne Paekau in a public toilet
beside the
There's a lowlight, too. Mr Miller seems pretty sore about it still, and
doesn't want to discuss the case of the five Gisborne police officers cleared
of corruption charges in 1998.
He led the case against the men, but his Operation Vine team was berated after
an independent inquiry by Judge Russell Callander. In
July 2001 Mr Miller and another detective were paid $50,000 between them after
filing personal grievance claims alleging that they were made scapegoats.
Rex
Miller
Born: Pukekohe. Age: 60
August 1963: Starts as constable, aged 19, in
December 1965: Transfers to CIB in
1970-1982: Works in
October 1982: Becomes detective inspector and transfers to
September 1986: Made detective chief inspector and head of Hamilton CIB.
March 2000: Retires.