A former Alexandra police officer who was convicted of perjury is to be released from prison after admitting he gave false evidence after a car crash in 2005.
Neil Robert Ford (57) told the Parole Board earlier this month he accepted responsibility for giving the false evidence that saw teenager Shane Cribb wrongly convicted of careless driving causing injury.
Ford had previously denied the charge, instead claiming he had made a mistake and had not intentionally given false evidence.
When he is released next month he will have served less than a year of his two years and four months' sentence.
Steve Potter, who campaigned to clear Mr Cribb's name, said he felt "a bit flat".
"He [Ford] seems to have got off lightly compared to what he put everyone else through ... Perjury has a max sentence of seven years and we look at cops as being trustworthy.
"It would have been nicer if he had've accepted responsibility six years ago. The other officer had to fulfil her sentence, so his 11 months seems premature."
Mr Potter said he had not talked to Mr Cribb but understood he was "doing really well; he has a good job and is in a good frame of mind - he is happy within himself. Time is a great healer".
Ford had claimed Mr Cribb "T-boned" his car while he was indicating to turn right into a driveway.
But two witnesses produced evidence supporting Mr Cribb's claim that Ford's car had been on the left side of the road, not in the centre.
After investigations by a crash analyst, the court found that Ford was doing a U-turn at the time of the crash.
A decision released by the Parole Board said Ford was at a "very low risk of reoffending".
It also said Ford had been "unable to access any rehabilitative programmes in prison", but Parole Board spokeswoman Sonja de Freiz said this was because such programmes were only offered to offenders who showed a need for them.
After an assessment it was decided Ford did not need a rehabilitative programme.
This decision also said Ford had not been cited in any misconduct reports since he entered the prison in September last year and he had worked in the unit garden and undertaken a horticultural course.
Ford's release comes with special conditions, including maintaining close contact with a probation officer and getting treatment or counselling.
He is also not to have any contact with Mr Cribb until his sentence ends on January 27, 2013.
