"Four shots, and then another one" - that's how the story of Alice Parkinson begins as the 25 year old waitress gunned down her fiancé, Bert West, in the middle of a street in Napier. So why did thousands of New Zealanders sign a petition demanding her release?

"Four shots, and then another one." That's how the story of Alice Parkinson begins, as the 25 year old waitress guns down her fiancé, Bert West, in the middle of Nelson Street in Napier in 1915.

The first four shots hit Bert in the face, head, neck and chest. The final shot is fired point blank into Alice's own temple.

She had planned it this way, a murder-suicide to get vengeance on the man who promised to marry her when she got pregnant and then deserted her when that child was stillborn.

But Alice doesn't die, and when she's locked in prison for manslaughter, something even stranger happens...

Historian Carol Markwell tells the story of Alice Parkinson - the killer who a hundred thousand New Zealanders said should be set free.

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In 1916 John Cullen led a small army of police deep into the forests of Te Urewera to arrest the Tuhoe prophet Rua Kenana - his crime? Preaching that his followers shouldn't sign up to fight in the First World War. But the raid is a complete disaster. Cullen oversees the shooting of two men in cold blood and the whole case against Rua unravels due to a huge legal blunder.

In 1916 John Cullen led a small army of police deep into the misty forests of Te Urewera to arrest the Tuhoe prophet Rua Kenana - his crime? Preaching that his followers shouldn't sign up to fight in the First World War.

But the raid is a complete disaster. Cullen oversees the shooting of two men in cold blood and the whole case against Rua unravels due to a huge legal blunder.

Historian Mark Derby explains how the son of an Irish turnip farmer rose to the very top of the New Zealand police - and how he didn't pay too much attention to whose neck he stepped on along the way.

Music:

Artist: Survival

Song: Rua Kenana

Composer: Survival

Album: Tribal Stomp

Label: Tangata 790613

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Arthur Worthington was a con artist who travelled the USA, marrying rich women then abandoning them and stealing all their money. With private detectives hot on his tail, he jumped on a ship bound for Christchurch where he set up his own religion and his own church.

Arthur Worthington was a con artist who travelled the USA, marrying rich women then abandoning them and stealing all their money.

With private detectives hot on his tail in 1890, he jumped on a ship bound for Christchurch where he set up his own religion and his own church, the famous Temple of Truth.

But when his history in the United States caught up with him Worthington had to face the music in an angry confrontation.

It got so out of hand that for the first time ever time in New Zealand the Riot Act had to be read to disperse the crowds.

In a new Black Sheep podcast, William Ray speaks to religious history professor Peter Lineham, who asks why Worthington did it. Was he a common crook? Was he psychopathic? Was he a true believer?

"He's taken the Christian beliefs and turned them into abstract principals that are intended to elevate humanity to the point where they don't need traditional and conventional forms of religion"

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