Peter Ellis takes fight to clear name to Supreme Court

Peter Ellis. Photo / Supplied

Convicted child sex offender Peter Ellis is taking his nearly 30-year fight to clear his name to the Supreme Court.

Ellis, 61, served seven years of a 10 year jail sentence for abusing seven children at the Christchurch Civic Creche in 1991.

He was freed in 2000 having always maintained his innocence.

The original 16 charges were based on the preschoolers' testimony of ritual abuse and torture.

Three convictions were overturned in 1994 after one of the children said she lied.

A 2001 book by Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, criticised the convictions as "a witch hunt" and the result of mass hysteria.

However, attempts to get an independent inquiry in 2003, 2008 and 2014 all failed.

Ellis has now filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

It is being asked to consider whether there was a miscarriage of justice due to the children's evidence being improperly obtained, a lack of expert evidence and unreliable expert evidence at trial.

- RNZ