The film Beyond reasonable doubt was in post-production when Arthur Allan Thomas was pardoned in December 1979. Screened around New Zealand in 1980, the movie focuses on attempts by the police to identify who was responsible for the murder of Jeanette and Harvey Crewe, and the eventual arrest, trial, appeal, retrial and release of Thomas. Directed by John Laing with David Hemmings as Inspector Hutton and John Hargreaves as Arthur Allan Thomas, the film uses a cast of experienced New Zealand actors to recreate the impact on a small farming community of the murders, and the cut and thrust of courtroom battles. The screenplay was written by David Yallop, whose book on the Thomas controversy was published in 1979.
Courtesy of South Pacific Pictures
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Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Photograph by Phil Peacock
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