Bail-jumper arrested in California

Press, 8 May 1980, Page 1

Bail-jumper arrested in California

Kevin John Miles, the former Christchurch jeanshop proprietor who fled New Zealand in 1977 'while on bail charged with having LSD and hashish valued at $40,000 for supply, has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Los Angeles. Miles, now aged 32, was arrested on Tuesday night, i The charges against nim are not known but it is believed that extradition proceedings will be started as soon as possible. The Christchurch police were reluctant to comment on the case last evening. It was said that any. comment would come from the Drug Intelligence Bureau at National Police Headquarters in Wellington. In June, 1977, Miles appeared in the Supreme Court at Christchurch charged with possessing LSD and hashish for supply. The drugs had a street value at the time of $40,000. Evidence was given at the trial that the drugs had been found in Miles’s flat in Straven Road during a raid by drug-squad members in March, 1977. The haul included 9000 LSD tablets, valued about $4 each, and hashish valued about $4OOO. Miles was represented in court by Mr M. A. Bungay, of Wellington.

After the jury had failed to reach a verdict, Miles was remanded to August on bail of $15,000. Bail was opposed by the police but was granted by Mr Justice Roper after Mr Bungay had said that he would be overseas for several months. Miles’s bail was later renewed to October. While on bail, Miles changed his name by deed poll and absconded to Australia with his girl friend, aged 17, according to affidavits filed in the Supreme Court in September, 1977.. Inquiries in Wellington at the time established that Miles had changed his name to Paul. John McMahon. McMahon being his mother’s maiden name. The change of name had been registered at Lower Hutt. A police investigation in Auckland disclosed that a person who had given his name as James Paul McMahon, born October 29, 1944, divorced, of Christchurch, had flown from Auckland to Meh bourne on September 18, Police records showed that Miles had been born on that date and that he had been divorced. When Miles failed to answer to his bail in the Supreme Court in October, 1977, his bail money was forfeited.