Almost 13 years after his wife's mysterious death, former prominent Perth barrister Lloyd Rayney is back in court claiming comments by a forensic investigator at a public forum suggested he had murdered her and got away with it.
Mr Rayney is suing Mark Reynolds, who worked with WA Police during the investigation into the death of 44-year-old Corryn Rayney in August 2007.
She was last seen alive at a boot scooting class in Bentley and her body was found nine days later in a bush grave in Kings Park in Perth's CBD.
Mr Rayney has always denied having anything to do with his wife's death.
He was charged with her murder in 2010 and two years later, after a judge-alone trial in the Supreme Court, he was found not guilty — a verdict that was upheld on appeal.
WA's Supreme Court was today told that two years after that acquittal, at a public seminar on the investigation into Mrs Rayney's death and Mr Rayney's trial, Dr Reynolds was recorded saying, "There was no need for a cold case review. The offender was identified".
The comments were heard by Sandra Toby who testified she found them infuriating.
"I was angry because he had a biased view of the case," she said.
"He clearly inferred that Mr Rayney was the only suspect.
"I was furious because Mr Rayney was found not guilty in court and the appeal [also] declared he was not guilty."
Ms Toby said after the comment was made there was "a reaction" around the room.
"There was a gasp … of exasperation perhaps," she said.
'I would stake my kids' lives on it'
Ms Toby said after the seminar she decided to approach Dr Reynolds to ask how he could say there would be no cold case review when it was not completely certain who the offender was.
Ms Toby said Dr Reynolds replied, "We know who the offender is" before stating emphatically — "I would stake my kids' lives on it."
She told the court she felt Dr Reynolds was bullying her by shouting her down, which she found quite confronting.
Ms Toby attended the seminar with her friend Lynne Milne, a forensic palynologist who was a defence witness at Mr Rayney's 2012 murder trial.
She had testified that pollen found inside Mrs Rayney's nose suggested she was still alive when she was taken to Kings Park.
She told today's hearing that she was "shocked" by what she heard Dr Reynolds say at the 2014 seminar.
"I understood he was saying that despite four judges finding Mr Rayney not guilty he thought Mr Rayney was guilty," she said.
In an opening statement, Mr Rayney's barrister Martin Bennett said the comments by Dr Reynolds gave rise to the suggestion his client murdered Mrs Rayney and got away with it.
"You could not have more clearly [conveyed] that imputation."
'Patently obvious I did not kill my wife'
In his evidence, Mr Rayney said he first heard about Dr Reynolds' comments a few days after the seminar.
"I was absolutely shocked. I could not believe it, I could not believe it," he said.
"I was not the offender. I did not kill my wife and it was patently obvious, but apparently not to Dr Reynolds.
"It struck me like a hammer."
Mr Rayney said the comments concerned him for a number of reasons, but particularly because they were made by "someone of such standing".
"The comments were made by the relevant head of the forensic section … people hearing him believe he had some inside knowledge.
"I was concerned he spoke with the authority of the Commissioner of Police."
Mr Rayney said he feared police had tried to wrongfully convict him of his wife's death, and after the comments thought he might be charged again.
Case follows $2.6m defamation payout
Dr Reynolds is defending the defamation action.
The court heard he denies the words he was recorded saying conveyed the alleged imputation.
He also denies what he is alleged to have said to Ms Toby after the seminar, with his barrister Hugh Selby asking her in cross examination if she had made up the conversation — a claim she denied.
It is Mr Rayney's second defamation action arising from the investigation into his wife's death.
In 2018 he was awarded a record $2.6 million after a Supreme Court judge found a senior detective had defamed him by calling him the prime and only suspect in the case, in the weeks after her death in 2007.
In April this year Mr Rayney was struck off as a lawyer after he was found to have secretly recorded his wife's conversations as their marriage broke down, and then went on to give false evidence about it in court.
