Court rejects killer's appeal application

Liam Reid was jailed for life after raping and murdering deaf woman Emma Agnew in 2007. Photo / File

The Supreme Court has rejected an application by murderer and rapist Liam Reid, for leave to appeal his conviction.

However, Reid may still get his appeal heard in the future.

Reid was jailed for life for raping and murdering deaf Christchurch woman Emma Agnew in 2007. He was also convicted of the rape and attempted murder of a 21-year-old woman in Dunedin nine days later.

Reid has been working with lawyer Davina Murray in a bid to clear his name. In April, Murray told the Herald she believed Reid was innocent and the wrong man had been jailed for the heinous crimes against Miss Agnew.

Murray revealed she had been working intensely on Reid's appeal on the day she lost name suppression relating to charges of smuggling items including an iPhone, cigarettes and a lighter to him in prison.

Yesterday Reid's current lawyer Howard Lawry received a letter from the Supreme Court relating to the application. The application was essentially asking the court permission, or leave, for Reid to file appeal proceedings.

He said the court had not formally "declined" the application - rather it had rejected it in its current form.

"We have applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. The court concluded that at presented they cannot accept it because there is a lack of jurisdiction," Mr Lawry said last night.

"They have made suggestions about what we can do to get in front of a court if we want to."

Mr Lawry would not be drawn on the specifics of the appeal or potential next moves.

He said it was early days and he would need to meet with Reid and take instruction from him.

"We'll just see where we go from here."

Mr Lawry said "a number of errors" had been made along the way in terms of Reid's appeal. And while this attempt had not been successful he was "excited" about what could happen next.