A New Zealand millionaire who shot and killed his wife after she announced she was leaving him has spent the past 13 years denying his guilt.
But that all changed on Tuesday when horse breeder Greg Meads faced a parole board with the power to recommend he be released from jail, having served his minimum term of 11 years.
Shocking his victim’s family, Meads finally admitted he had murdered his wife on their Matamata property in September 2009.
‘I killed Helen, I was the person who pulled the trigger and I am fully responsible for her death,’ he said.
‘Yes it was a deliberate act, I raised the gun and I pulled the trigger,’ Mead said.
In September 2009 Helen Meads (pictured) was shot at close range by her husband Greg Meads at the home they shared together in Matamata
It was a stunning admission, given up until that moment, Meads had always said it was just a tragic accident, the New Zealand Herald said.
On September 19, 2009, Helen told her husband she wanted to end their 12-year marriage, one where she had been subjected to domestic violence.
Four days later, she was dead.
Helen was talking to a friend on the phone, then seconds after she said goodbye she was shot at close range in the neck.
Her husband Greg Meads was the killer.
Their three young children were left without a mother and Helen’s David and Pam were left without their daughter.
Meads admitted to firing the shot, but pleaded not guilty to murder, saying he had not meant to kill his wife, that the gun went off accidentally.
The jury rejected his defence and convicted him of murder.
Meads was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of 11 years before he was eligible for parole.
In August last year, he appeared before a parole board for the first time.
At that hearing, he stuck with his story that the killing was accidental and he did not deliberately pull the trigger.
He said he just wanted to talk to his wife about their future.
In a decision denying him freedom, the parole board said Meads ‘remains an undue risk’.
Greg Meads has been denied parole, though he has finally admitted that he deliberately killed his wife in 2009
‘Mr Meads said that he simply wanted to clear up what he thought was some confusion about what his wife was doing, after he thought they had reached an agreement about their future,’ it said.
‘We think Mr Meads’ narrative is quite different than the conclusions reached by the Judge at sentencing and, most importantly, quite different to the verdict.’
But on Tuesday, Meads was back before the parole board and took a vastly different approach to the stance he had previously maintained for more than a decade.
As well as admitting responsibility for his wife’s death, Meads also admitted assaulting her during their marriage.
‘What brought about this change?’ asked the parole board chairman Sir Ron Young.
‘You’ve told untruths for 13 years, why should we rely on what you’re telling us now when for the past 13 years it’s been a lie?
‘You didn’t wake up this morning and go “oh, that’s right, I pulled the trigger”.’
‘I have come to terms with the fact that when I had my hand on the gun it was a voluntary act and I’ve pulled the trigger,’ Meads said.
Helen Meads (pictured left) with her father David White (pictured centre, holding a grandchild)
‘It’s not an accident, I admit that now. It is a change. I think it was deliberate that I grabbed the trigger and that was the end of Helen’s life.’
When pressed further, Meads said he had not discussed the issue in any depth with with his psychiatrist and had just decided over the previous day to take responsibility.
Sir Ron said the sudden change was worrying and he expressed concern about the genuineness of it.
‘It is a very serious charge, but assuming it is genuine, it’s a positive change,’ he said.
Meads told the parole board that if he was released, he had a safety plan.
He said the only ‘high risk’ issue for him was a lack of trust in intimate relationships.
The board said he had not addressed the crucial issues of how he would cope around guns.
Helen Meads (pictured) had been the victim of domestic violence and wanted to leave her husband
‘I am repulsed by firearms or any weapons, I couldn’t even pick up a hunting magazine now,’ he replied.
Meads also said he would be living in a town, not a farm, and so would have no need for guns.
The board said Meads was not ready for release.
Sir Ron said given his new admission on the murder he had much more work to do with his psychiatrist and on his safety plan.
Meads was refused parole, but will be eligible to see the board again in April next year.
Helen’s father David White told New Zealand Herald journalist Anna Leask that it was a relief Meads’ parole bid was turned down.
‘Everything about (Meads’ admission) is just so goddamn insincere,’ he said.
‘It is the first time he’s admitted it, it’s taken 13 years to get here and he did it overnight, I think he’s worked out that if he doesn’t start saying the right words – whether he believes them or not – he’s in prison for a very long time.’
Helen Meads (left) is pictured with her father David White, who raised her children after she was murdered
After their daughter was killed, David and Pam White raised their grandchildren, who are now adults.
Mr White also dedicated a huge amount of time to trying to help stop other women from suffering the same brutal and premature death as his daughter.
‘If you had known Helen you would understand that if I had done nothing she probably would have come down and given me a kick in the bum and said “come on there’s another Helen out there, do something about it”,’ Mr White told the Stuff website in 2019.
‘And she’s right, there are so many families like mine, who don’t recognise what family harm is and certainly don’t see the ripples after the violence of it all.’
Mr White has now retired from that work.
‘I’m 78 in a couple of months – it’s getting far too difficult,’ he said. ‘Now it’s time for Pam and I to learn to love each other again, the way we did before Helen was killed.
‘It’s time to live our life.’
