Date set for Angela Blackmoore murder trial

A date in 2023 has been set for the trial of two people accused of killing Christchurch mother Angela Blackmoore more than 25 years ago. At a pre-trial call-over in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday, Justice Cameron Mander set the three-week trial to begin on May 1, 2023. However, the hearing may proceed on August 22 next year if time becomes available. David Hawken and Rebecca Wright-Meldrum were due to stand trial from November 22 this year but the hearing was postponed for reasons that cannot be published. Blackmoore, 21, was nine weeks’ pregnant when she was bludgeoned and stabbed 39 times at her Christchurch home on August 17, 1995. Jeremy Powell and Wright-Meldrum were arrested in October 2019, and Hawken was arrested in May 2020. Powell was jailed for at least 10 years in June last year after admitting his role in the killing but Hawken and Wright-Meldrum have denied any involvement. In the meantime, they are remanded on continued bail to November 26, for a further pre-trial conference.