Bain case: No access to documents

David Bain. Photo / John Kirk-Anderson

David Bain has been denied access to documents linked to a report into compensation for wrongful imprisonment.

His legal team had applied for access to 250 documents that Justice Minister Judith Collins had received over Mr Bain's compensation claim.

The Crown had refused to release the bulk of the documents, saying they are highly privileged.

In a decision by the High Court, released this afternoon (Wed), Justice Patrick Keane ruled most of those documents should not be released.

Mr Bain's lawyer Michael Reed QC earlier alleged the documents had been merely "drip-fed'' to his legal team.

"It may turn out that the remaining documents are innocuous, but we do not know.

"We need to see them [as they may] show a pattern of the bias.''

Ms Collins' office was "fighting like fury'' to keep the documents from Mr Bain's legal team in an attempt to run them ragged, Mr Reed said.

He earlier told Justice Keane that Ms Collins had been biased and prejudiced in her handling of the Bain case.

The entire process had been hijacked by Crown Law and police, Mr Reed said.

He read a document from former Canadian Supreme Court Judge Ian Binnie saying, "at the moment the Minister Collins' process looks very one-sided''.

Ms Collins was acting as the Minister of Police, not the Minister of Justice and was struggling to distinguish between the two, Mr Reed said.

David Bain is seeking a judicial review into how Ms Collins handled the Binnie report into his claim for compensation.