A convicted murderer is back behind bars after becoming involved in a sophisticated international fraud racket.
Joyce Eileen Blondell (aka Conwell) was released from prison in June 2012 after serving 12 years of a life sentence.
In 1999, out of the blue, the now 70-year-old pensioner went to the Dunedin police station and confessed to providing a shotgun to Murray Childs, which he had used to kill Alex Rodgers in Christchurch.
At the same time, she also confessed to attacking her friend Doreen Middlemiss 15 months before the murder.
The victim, who lived in a care facility in Lees St, was found dead on June 7, 1998 and her death was originally ruled to be non-suspicious.
However, police later reopened the case after Childs — who worked at the residence — pleaded guilty to Mr Rodgers’ murder.
Blondell backed her confessions by pleading guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder in the High Court at Dunedin and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2000.
After more than 12 years in jail, the Parole Board approved the defendant’s release and her family helped her settle in Oamaru.
They told the Otago Daily Times Blondell was enjoying life on the outside and was determined to make the most of it.
But everything changed when she met a Nigerian fraudster posing as a successful US businessman.
The man, who called himself "Joe Weimer", told Blondell he loved her and would move to New Zealand so they could be together.
However, it was all a ruse to gain the woman’s trust. And it worked.
Weimer began sending sums of money to Blondell, which he would instruct her to divert to overseas bank accounts. On the defendant’s own admissions, about $100,000 had gone through her account by April 2016.
The mysterious man also set Blondell up as a money mule.
He would hack legitimate business’ accounts and email their customers, telling them there was a problem with the usual bank account they used. Blondell’s account number was put forward as the alternative and the money would flood in.
All it took was the woman’s co-operation to withdraw the cash or siphon it to offshore accounts before the victims knew they had been swindled.
Blondell was charged with two counts of money laundering, two of obtaining by deception and one of causing loss by deception.
She appeared in the Timaru District Court in June for a sentencing indication.
When Judge Joanna Maze told the pensioner she was facing a stint of 14 months’ imprisonment, she pleaded guilty on the spot and accepted the indication.
"This is not a case where home detention would be appropriate," the judge said.
"There is probably almost no chance that any of the victims will see any significant amount repaid."
Blondell will go before the Parole Board again in December.
