Killer of 2 Moncton police officers denied parole again

One of the men sent to prison for life for killing two Moncton police officers has been denied parole again.

Richard Joseph Bergeron, whose name used to be Richard Ambrose, was denied parole on Aug. 17 by the Parole Board of Canada's appeals division, confirming a board decision issued on May 12.

Bergeron and accomplice James Hutchison were sentenced for December 1974 murders of Const. Michael O'Leary and Cpl. Aurele Bourgeois.

Before they were killed, the two officers were investigating the kidnapping of a local restaurateur's son. The kidnapped 14-year-old, was released unharmed after his father, Cy Stein, paid a ransom.

In their last communication with police dispatch, O'Leary and Bourgeois said they were following a suspicious vehicle. Their bodies were found in shallow graves three days later.

Bergeron and Hutchison's death sentences were changed to life in prison after Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976.

Hutchinson died in prison in 2011 at the age of 83.

Bergeron was granted parole in 2000, but it was later revoked after he assaulted his wife.

Bergeron claimed the parole board used incomplete information and an unfair risk assessment when it denied his parole in May.

The appeals board rejected these claims, saying the board "conducted an adequate and fair risk assessment and rendered a reasonable decision."