However, the apology has not impressed one of his victims.
"I can't believe anything he says. I just believe it's just another con," North Otago woman Helen Kay said when contacted by the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
In a letter to the Greymouth Star, Edwin Taylor who was raised in Greymouth but gave his last address as Reefton and has used at least 20 different aliases, said he wanted to apologise to all those hurt by his "pathetic" actions.
The 46-year-old had two warrants out for his arrest at the time he befriended a North Otago family, claiming to be a Pike River miner waiting for his redundancy pay and that he had lost his brother-in-law in the mine explosion.
The Kay family took in Taylor over Christmas, and even brought him a present, before he made off with their car and $2000 in cash and cheques.
Describing his actions as "the lowest of the low", Ms Kay believed Taylor was "scared of what people might do to him".
If he had admitted everything he had done, she might be able to accept an apology but it meant "absolutely nothing".
She planned to put newspaper clippings about Taylor in her hallway "to remind me to be very careful next time, not to ever let myself fall into a web again".
She felt sorry for those involved in the Pike River tragedy and it made her feel good to think she was helping someone from there.
To discover the truth - and to get ripped off - was "mind boggling", she said.
"I feel very sorry for the people over there to learn about this. They have enough to deal with, without some rat going around using their grief and disaster to do this."
From behind bars, Taylor wrote that he felt "true remorse" for his actions.
He said the letter was not intended to gain sympathy or pity but was a "heartfelt apology to the men of Pike River, their families and my victim, Helen Kay, and furthermore the whole of New Zealand".
"Portraying myself as a miner was a stupid, pathetic act; to even class myself in the same realm as those miners is pathetic.
"I myself come from the Coast - my whole family does - and now I am ashamed to call myself a Coaster because of my actions."
Taylor said he had not intended "to tarnish the memories or the families of the Pike River miners."
"I wish to express from my heart that I am truly, truly sorry for my pathetic, senseless actions and apologise to the miners, their families, the 29 brave men [who] lost their lives, my victim and her family, and in general the whole of New Zealand.
"There aren't words for me to describe how I feel at the moment, but I would like the whole of New Zealand and all of those I have mentioned to know that I understand what I done [sic] is unforgiving [sic] and pathetic.
"I know that but I wish to apologise to all, and to say that this apology is genuine and comes truly from my heart.
"I'm sorry, truly, truly sorry," Taylor wrote.
His actions disgusted the police and the grieving father of one of the 29 mine victims.
"In my role I have seen people stoop to some pretty low levels but to use one of New Zealand's worst tragedies is a new low, the lowest I have encountered," Constable Craig Bennett, of Kurow, said when Taylor was arrested.
Bernie Monk, whose son Michael was among the victims, said he hoped Taylor was dealt with "severely".
"For someone to use these circumstances for their own gain is disgusting and I feel sorry for the people he has taken advantage of. I hope he is dealt with severely."
Taylor will appear in the Christchurch District Court on January 28.
- Additional reporting by Greymouth Star
