A MAN who filed a $3.1 million malicious prosecution and wrongful imprisonment lawsuit against the state of NSW after he was acquitted of shooting his rival - Hunter crook Daniel Fing - after a jury deliberated for less than 20 minutes has had his claim dismissed in the NSW Supreme Court.
Matthew Bruce William Edwards had sued the state and the detective who charged him, claiming he was set up by the notorious Hunter criminal who staged the shooting or shot himself, an allegation he claimed detectives believed was true when they took him to trial.
Mr Edwards, who spent 69 days in jail in 2011 after being charged with shooting Mr Fing, had faced a more than six-year legal battle in the NSW Supreme Court that ended late on Thursday when Justice Michael Walton dismissed his claim and ordered he pay the costs of the state of NSW.
In the now dismissed statement of claim, obtained by the Newcastle Herald in 2019, Mr Edwards painted a picture of a notorious "third generation criminal" who was out to get him over a long-running feud involving a "love triangle".
And he outlined what he said was an "improper and unlawful" police investigation that ignored his alibis and overlooked evidence pointing to the likelihood that Mr Fing shot himself or had someone else shoot him in a bid to set up Mr Edwards.
Those allegations relied upon by Mr Edwards included claims Mr Fing and others had interfered with the "crime scene" and that blood had been washed away, that Mr Fing had taken time to bandage his arm before calling triple-zero and that Mr Fing would not have been able to see who shot him at that time of night and from that distance.
Mr Edwards gave evidence during a hearing in 2020 and claimed that after he proclaimed his innocence and denied involvement in the shooting, the detective who charged him told him: "I believe you're innocent. I believe you're telling the truth, but it's up to the courts to throw it out."
The detective repeatedly denied saying the things Mr Edwards claimed.
After hearing the evidence and considering the case for some 10 months, Justice Walton dismissed Mr Edwards statement of claim.
