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A long tradition of appeals to the Privy Council in London looks to be ending, with convicted killer john barlow's case the last one scheduled to be heard by the London-based judges.
Barlow - sentenced to a minimum 14 years in prison after being found guilty of the
1994 shootings of Wellington businessmen Eugene and Gene Thomas - was yesterday granted leave to have his appeal heard.
In a two-hour hearing, the court agreed to hear a full appeal of the case, despite crown lawyers arguing the council had no jurisdiction because of earlier decisions by New Zealand's Governor-General, Anand Satyanand.
Mr Satyanand - on advice from the Justice Ministry and Justice Minister Annette King - refused Barlow's appeal to have his case heard again.
But Barlow - who is eligible for parole in October - could be the last criminal case sent to London.
A Crown Law spokeswoman yesterday told the Herald the department had no more matters pending with the council, and the case of convicted child abuser Peter Ellis's conviction was possibly the only one that could still be heard if an appeal were filed.
Ellis was jailed in 1993 for abusing children at the Christchurch Civic Creche but has always maintained his innocence. He was released from prison in 2000 after serving seven years of a 10-year sentence.
His case can still be heard by the Privy Council because it was judged by the Court of Appeal before January 2004.
After last year's Privy Council ruling quashing David Bain's convictions over the murder of five members of his family, his lawyer, Judith Ablett Kerr, QC, said she would file an appeal with the council within a fortnight.
She could not be contacted yesterday for comment on whether anappeal had been filed, or a hearing date set.
A Justice Ministry spokesman said it was impossible to determine how many more appeals could be made to the Privy Council, as the decision was made by the parties to the matter.
Greg King, the Wellington lawyer who took Barlow's case to London, described his victory as "huge".
"Constitutionally it's huge and historically it's very significant aswell."
The case is the third double murder Mr King has taken to the Privy Council. The others were appeals for Bruce Howse and Scott Watson.
Leave was granted for an appeal hearing in the case of Howse, who was convicted of murdering his stepdaughters in Masterton in 2001, but a retrial was not granted.
In 2003, Mr King unsuccessfully applied for an appeal against Watson's convictions for the killings of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, who disappeared in the Marlborough Sounds in 1998.