The Lundy trial: Prison orders Lundy suicide watch

Mark Lundy is understood to be on 14-day suicide watch in his Manawatu Prison cell, which contains nothing but a 5cm-thick mattress.

It is almost certain Lundy's lawyers, Mike Behrens and Steve Winter, will seek leave to appeal against his convictions for murdering his wife, Christine, and daughter, Amber, in their Palmerston North home.

And the Crown is expected to ask the Court of Appeal for a longer minimum non-parole period than the 13 years set by Justice Anthony Ellis.

The defence team has refused to make any comment about the case and about its client.

The Corrections Department policy is not to discuss individual inmates. But it is understood Lundy's request to serve his sentence in Manawatu Prison, where he spent more than a year after his arrest, has been granted.

Many in the Manawatu community, including friends and family of the Lundys, were not surprised by the verdicts.

But others are convinced of his innocence.

His father Bill is one of those. Neither he nor other members of the Lundy or Weggery (Christine's maiden name) families have spoken publicly since the trial.

Caryl Jones, Mark Lundy's sister, said they would not be commenting in the foreseeable future - another indication of the likelihood of an appeal.

The horrific double murder case that riveted the nation divided not only the Palmerston North community but the Lundys' wide circle of family and friends.

It has also created a large number of victims, many of them the children of people who knew the family.

They have suffered abuse and hectoring in school playgrounds for being associated with the family.

Andrew and Sally-Ann Berry say it has been a terrible 19 months for many since the murders.

"Even friends' children got a really hard time," Mr Berry said yesterday.

The Berrys, who knew the couple for 20 years through the Rovers, the Scouting movement's adult section, said they and others had rallied around Lundy after the murders with feelings of only the deepest sympathy.

Now they just want it all to be over and the media and the public scrutiny to go away.

Others are equally adamant it cannot end with a man they see as innocent in jail.

One is Bronwyn Neal, a friend of the Lundys.

"I don't believe Mark did it," she said. "He doesn't have it in him. He's not that kind of person. He just loves them too much."

Mrs Neal, who met the couple through the theatre in 1986, said she would visit Mark in prison as soon as she could.

"I'm confident he'll appeal."

She had her own theories about who might have murdered Christine and Amber, but would not elaborate.

She said Lundy had lots of supporters who were certain of his innocence, though none wanted to talk.

Lundy's cousin Caroline Robinson is one. She said she was not commenting because "enough of the family and friends have done that. I have my own views but I'd rather keep them to myself. Suffice to say, I will still be visiting Mark."