exclusive e EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW With Allan Titford’s Partner Marcian Thomas By Ralph Naismith photo’s Joz Steel Photography Published © 2013 elocal magazine www.elocal.co.nz elocal .co.nz www.elocal.co.nz 25 e exclusive EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW With Allan Titford’s Partner Marcian Thomas. By Ralph Naismith photo’s Joz Steel Photography – Published elocal magazine www.elocal.co.nz Allan Titford is Sentenced to 24 Years’ Imprisonment. Was Justice Served or a Purpose Achieved? November 2013 - Allan Titford’s prison sentence was handed down: 1. Without any witnesses appearing on his behalf and after three pages of witnesses’ names were offered over the four week trial. 2. Prosecution witnesses gave evidence in closed court: was there any cross-examination? 3. His current partner Marcian Thomas offered to appear in his defence and was denied. 4. Sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment? Most villains committing brutal murder get less than half the time. This is Marcian’s first interview since the trial. “I know Allan is not guilty of forcing himself on Susan. It’s not his nature. The trial was a bloody joke - it would be more accurate to say it was like watching someone being hung, drawn and quartered very slowly over four weeks,” comments Marcian. M arcian Thomas has lived with Allan Titford for most of their three years together, near Taumarunui. She granted this interview following the sentencing of her partner, Allan Titford, for serious abuse towards his previous wife and four children. The cynical voice in me suggests that the ‘monster’ Allan Titford is now safely behind bars – for a period of time that not even our worst murderers face. So why should this woman agree to an interview and say the things she says? Surely she is also well rid of the monster? Marcian Thomas is a 42 year old mother of four children, three by her first marriage of 12 years. Those children are aged 23 to 16 and now out in the world. She has been living with Allan and their now 15 month old son after they both met in January 2011. Marcian Thomas, partner of Allan Titford 26 elocal Support your local business www.elocal.co.nz .co.nz exclusive “...I know Allan is not guilty of forcing himself on Susan. It’s not his nature. The trial was a bloody joke - it would be more accurate to say it was like watching someone being hung, drawn and quartered very slowly over four weeks...” Allan is now held in Ngawha Prison, Northland. We spoke with Marcian by telephone from a friend’s home in Dargaville while she was visiting Allan. In the past three years, she confirms that she has seen nothing of the patterns of abusive behaviour for which Allan was convicted. “It’s just shocking, it’s crazy,” she says. She describes Allan as a man who, while being under stress for over 25 years, none of the behaviour for which he has been convicted ever surfaced in their home. She observed his approach to children as, instead, being more concerned for their safety. “In our time together he spent many hours getting all the paperwork in order on the Te Roroa claim issue where he lost his land and cattle to the Crown. “He was determined to get it in order so that the whole history could be uncovered, understood and the truth to prevail.” The Te Roroa land claim has consumed Allan’s life since 1986. He has previously been kept on remand (in prison twice at six monthly spells) on alleged charges – on none of which he was convicted. There is also evidence that he had experienced extreme pressure to move off the land. Marcian said that the weeks leading up to his trial on family abuse charges did not involve any meeting with Allan’s legal aid-appointed lawyer because Allan’s own bail conditions would not allow him to travel north of Huntly to Auckland without specific police permission. A request to travel to Auckland a few days before the trial to meet with his lawyer and prepare a defence was denied. “I said that maybe I should be called as a witness but the lawyer said it had nothing to do with me,” said Marcian. Allan’s defence did not call any witnesses on his behalf. Marcian said there are many who would testify for him and create doubt about Susan’s (Cochrane, Allan’s former wife) allegations. “It does make me wonder. I think it was all intended to limit his own ability for a defence,” she said. Marcian said she has never met Susan Cochrane but through Allan and other people who know the children from Susan and Allan’s marriage, that there is some email and witness evidence that could cast considerable doubt on the evidence provided by Susan and five of their children. “What surprised me was, Allan submitted so much of this evidence but I did not see any of it in the trial,” said Marcian. “I realise I am his second partner and might be seen as having some axe to grind. “I do know that when she left him in 2009, he has told me how devastated he was. And I have seen evidence that she became very communicative with him after the separation. She also seemed to change when she found that he was in relationships with other women. She was not happy that he was seeing other women. e “There were some short term relationships before me but when we met, we clicked and within a couple of months we decided to move in together. While it has been stressful, he is in every way a good partner and father. “To be honest, I am concerned for the children of Allan’s first marriage.” The source of Marcian’s concerns relates to texts and emails which she and Allan have received. She says these raise many questions about the validity of their evidence. elocal has decided not to publish more commentary of Marcian’s interviews pending an appeal process. But this does raise some obvious questions: 1. Could a man convicted of such monstrous activity change in character so convincingly and hide it from Marcian for 3 years? 2. How could this have been hidden from family, friends, teachers, doctors and Sue’s father who was a Police officer for 22 years? 3. How was this possibility not raised in his defence and why were expert witnesses not called to argue this? 4. Which parties have an interest in seeing Titford incarcerated for such a long period? 5. The Courts and Police got it wrong with Arthur Allan Thomas and David Bain, could they have got it wrong with Allan Titford? 6. 24 years imprisonment. Most brutal murderers get less than half this time. Even media reports of the judge’s verdict seemed to be mixed up with Titford’s disputes around the Northland land. Not even the court seems capable of separating one issue from the other. It does imply that Titford had made a lot of enemies and these complaints by his former wife have been convenient and timely. But you need to know the background to even think of this possibility. Whatever happens from here, Allan Titford, convicted of serious abuses against his first wife and children, will probably enter the New Zealand history books as the first non - Maori to be dispossessed of his government issued freehold title land by Maori, with the full support of government and with Titford having no means of compensation. Allan Titford, convicted of serious abuses against his first wife and children, will probably enter the New Zealand history books as the first non - Maori to be dispossessed of his government issued freehold title land by Maori, with the full support of government. elocal .co.nz www.elocal.co.nz 27
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