Father to fly body home

Press, 30 August 1989, Page 9

Father to fly body home

PA Levin The body of an Otaki man found dead in a Brixton jail, London, on Saturday is coming home. Jeffery Rofe’s father, Mr Max Rofe, said yesterday he was determined to bring his son’s body back to New Zealand and there would probably be a funeral service in Otaki in about three weeks. “He’s definitely coming home even though it will cost about $10,000,” he said. Mr Rofe said Jeffery Rofe’s girlfriend in England would probably come to New Zealand for the funeral. According to police headquarters in Wellington, he was arrested on June 17 and appeared in a West London court two days later on disorderly behaviour charges. The police report said he was remanded in custody for mental health reports. A British Home Office source said Jeffery Rofe was convicted on July 22 on criminal charges after setting fire to his police cell. He was held in jail after the conviction, with a court order saying he was to be kept under regular observation. An inquest would be held later this week to try to find out how he came to die in spite of the existence of the court order. The Home Office source said the Coroner would have to establish whether there was any negligence by prison warders. Mr Rofe, who first heard of his son’s death on the news on Sunday said he was shocked and confused by the information that he had received on his son’s imprisonment and subsequent death. Since hearing of the arrest, Mr Rofe and his other son, Stephen Rofe, of Otaki, had run up more than $llOO in toll calls to the prison, the British High Commission, the New Zealand High Commission and British police. At every step they were “stone-walled,” he said.