The life and crimes of James Henry Wilson

James Wilson was convicted of the Red Fox Tavern murder, but has now had his conviction quashed.

His identity has been secret for years. Now, after the Supreme Court quashed his conviction for the murder of Chris Bush, the man police have labelled "pure evil" and "New Zealand's Charles Manson" has finally been named.

He is James Henry Wilson.

To some police officers, he was "pure evil". Even hardened career criminals feared him.

But while the Supreme Court has ruled there was not enough evidence to uphold his conviction for the 1987 murder of Chris Bush, the publican of Red Fox Tavern, Wilson remains behind bars serving a life sentence for another brutal killing that cemented his reputation as one of this country's most ruthless and violent offenders.

Stuff senior journalist Tony Wall has investigated Wilson's criminal history.

"He's one of New Zealand's worst criminals, there's no doubt, just in terms of his sheer callousness and the fact that he was torturing people and murdering people," Wall tells The Detail.

"There's a handful like that in New Zealand history, I think, and he's earned his place in the pantheon, I guess you'd say, of criminals.

"You only come across guys like this occasionally in your career as a police reporter - guys that are just so callous and uncaring, and obviously didn't care about human life whatsoever."

For almost five years after Wilson and co-accused Mark Hoggart were convicted of the Red Fox Tavern murder in 2021, Wilson's identity remained suppressed while appeals worked their way through the courts.

That all changed when the Supreme Court ruled there wasn't enough evidence to place the pair at the scene, "so the verdicts were therefore unreasonable and couldn't stand", says Wall.

"It wasn't your usual error in law. They've basically said the jury got it wrong, and we're overturning it."

The acquittal means there will be no retrial.

But the decision also lifted the final legal barrier preventing journalists from identifying Wilson and revealing the violent criminal history jurors were never allowed to hear.

"The jury couldn't know about any of that," Wall says. "It would have been hugely prejudicial. That's how our justice system works."

Long before the Red Fox Tavern investigation turned its attention to Wilson, his criminal offending had already stretched back decades.

According to Wall's research, it began with shocking acts of animal cruelty as a teenager before escalating into violent offending, armed robberies, and attempted attacks on police.

As president of the Filthy Few motorcycle gang, known by the nickname "Little Willie", Wall says Wilson inspired fear well beyond his own associates.

One of the most disturbing episodes came during a home invasion near Ōpōtiki in 1991.

Wall says Wilson and another gang member blindfolded a cannabis grower and his wife, beat them with a baseball bat, dripped acid onto their faces and feet, and even fired a shotgun beside the man's ear.

"It was really cruel, ultra-violent type stuff," Wall says.

Then came the murder that would ensure he spent the next decades of his life in prison.

Wall says Wilson's former girlfriend, Jo-Anne van Duyvenbooden, had ended their brief relationship.

Police believed Wilson could not accept that rejection.

"He walked into the bedroom carrying a .22 pistol," Wall says. "He said, 'I've got something for you, bitch,' shot her in the face, then walked up and fired twice more into her head."

He dumped her body down a bank before walking away.

Former Detective Inspector Graham Bell, who led that investigation, never forgot the man responsible.

Before his death, Bell described Wilson as "one of the most pure evil characters" he encountered during his policing career, dedicating a chapter of his memoir to him and comparing him to Charles Manson.

The comparison wasn't unique.

Wall says even Wilson's own gang associate later remarked that Wilson believed he was Charles Manson.

Yet despite that history, the Supreme Court says there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Wilson murdered Chris Bush.

The killing itself has haunted New Zealand since Labour weekend of 1987.

The Detail's producer Alexia Russell remembers covering it as a young police reporter.

"It was massive ... it was so shocking," she recalls. "Chris Bush was so popular as the local publican.

"The whole country was wanting to know who these people were ... who had done this."

After closing time at the Red Fox Tavern in Maramarua, Bush was counting the night's takings when two armed men burst into his office.

Bush and three staff members were tied up.

Bush was shot dead.

The offenders escaped with more than $36,000 - an unusually large amount of cash that fuelled speculation the robbers had inside knowledge of the tavern.

Russell remembers the grief that followed.

She says Bush's body lay at the local marae before his funeral - "That's how much respect that he had."

"The funeral was absolutely harrowing.

"I'll never forget the look on Gaye Bush's face," Russell says. "She was, you know, the Irish term, 'keening'. It's etched into my mind how absolutely distraught she was at losing her husband ... it was awful."

For years the investigation dominated headlines, with police repeatedly reviewing the case, as rumours circulated.

But no one was charged until decades later.

Now, after Wilson's acquittal, many questions remain unanswered.

For the family of van Duyvenbooden, however, one battle continues.

Wall says her sister Christine Henderson has faithfully attended Wilson's parole hearings for years, determined to convince the Parole Board he should never walk free.

"They sincerely believe if he gets out, he'll kill again," Wall says.

The Red Fox Tavern conviction paused those hearings.

With that conviction now gone, Wilson is expected to face the Parole Board again as he continues serving his life sentence for van Duyvenbooden's murder.

Today, the man once recognised by his long hair and facial tattoos - including the swastika etched across his forehead - looks very different.

"The tattoos are gone," Wall says. "He's got a grey beard now. He almost looks like Father Christmas."

But Wall says van Duyvenbooden's sister gave him a warning.

"Don't be fooled," he says Henderson told him. "Look into those eyes, and you'll still see pure evil."

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