In 2014 this hard-rock drummer telephoned a man in New Zealand and told him he was coming over to kill him — a call that cost him eight months of home detention and, for a while, his seat behind one of the biggest bands on earth.
The full story
Phil Rudd pleaded guilty in Tauranga District Court, New Zealand, to threatening to kill and to possession of methamphetamine and cannabis, and was sentenced on 9 July 2015 by Judge Thomas Ingram to eight months' home detention. In September 2014 he had asked an associate to have a former employee 'taken out' and then phoned the man directly with a threat; a charge of attempting to procure murder was withdrawn. A police search of his Tauranga property on 6 November 2014 found 0.48g of methamphetamine and 91g of cannabis.
The clues we handed out
— Police searching his property also found methamphetamine and cannabis. He pleaded guilty to those counts too.
— A far more serious charge — attempting to procure a murder — was withdrawn before it reached trial.
— The court heard the trigger was the commercial failure of a solo album he had just put out.
— The band toured without him, and then took him back.
— Initials: P.R.
How this case played
ALLEGEDLY* edition No. 56. Three strikes to name Phil Rudd, with a free clue
unlocked after every miss.
*A blind item you can check. Every puzzle is drawn from the public record —
court records, official rulings, and moments that unfolded on live television — and the
records are linked above. Allegedly.
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