Mount P-lab cook jailed

A Papamoa man has been jailed for manufacturing P at a rented Oceanbeach Road home where an explosion ignited a flash fire that injured another man.

Rhys James Maybury, 40, appeared in Tauranga District Court this morning after earlier pleading guilty to manufacturing methamphetamine and three counts of possession of precursor chemicals and materials.

Police and forensic investigators examine the Oceanbeach Road property following the explosion on April 27.

A charge of arson was discharged at his previous appearance.

He was sentenced to four years and six months on the lead manufacturing charge by Judge Peter Rollo. On the other three charges he received a concurrent sentence.

Maybury, a plasterer from Papamoa, earlier admitted to manufacturing drugs at the property on Oceanbeach Road.

In the early hours of April 23, 2013 there was an explosion in the basement of the two-storey home. Firefighters were called and arrived to find a 57-year-old man in the basement with burns to his face and chest.

The man was taken to Tauranga Hospital and later transferred to Waikato Hospital's burns unit where he spent a month recovering.

Mount Maunganui man Michael Bonne, who suffered burns to 30 per cent of his body in the explosion, was later charged with allowing his home to be used in the manufacture of P and cultivating cannabis. He is currently on bail and is due to reappear in court next week.

Police were also called to the scene that day and evacuated properties nearby shutting down the road between Girven Road and Concord Avenue. Read more about the explosion here.

At the property police and forensic investigators located a number of chemicals including caustic soda acetone and glassware used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Maybury was later arrested on May 7 and subsequently charged.

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