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NORFOLK ISLAND - A jury has found New Zealand chef Glenn McNeill guilty of murdering Sydney woman Janelle Patton on Norfolk Island.
McNeill faced a month-long trial in the Norfolk Island Supreme Court, accused of the 2002 killing.
He pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Patton, 29, who
disappeared during a morning walk on Easter Sunday.
Tourists found her body that evening at a picnic reserve.
The petite restaurant manager had been stabbed to death, suffering more than 60 injuries in a drawn-out attack.
A New Zealand policeman who sat in on the interview when Glenn McNeill confessed to the murder of Janelle Patton thinks today's verdict is the right one.
The New Zealand chef was today found guilty of the 2002 murder after a month-long trial in the Norfolk Island Supreme Court.
Detective Sergeant Chris Roberts of Christchurch police, who was at the interview in Nelson at which the confession was made, said today's verdict was what he expected.
"It was a lengthy interview and he way happy to answer all of the questions that the Australian Federal Police put to him," Mr Roberts said.
New Zealand police located McNeill in New Zealand and assisted Australian police with the extradition. The New Zealand involvement started about 12 months before the arrest.
After a painstaking four-year investigation, police arrested McNeill last February at his home near Nelson, on New Zealand's South Island, and questioned him for close to two hours.
In the interview, which was played to the court, the father of two told police he ran over and stabbed Ms Patton after smoking cannabis.
But in an unsworn statement made at his trial, the 29-year-old dismissed the confession as "complete rubbish", telling the jury he had mental health problems at the time.
"I did not murder Janelle Patton," he told the court.
Having been sequestered overnight at an island hotel, the seven male and four female jurors deliberated for 11-and-a-half hours before delivering their unanimous verdict.
McNeill showed no reaction as the verdict was handed down.
Sitting in the courtoom's public gallery, his partner, Shelley Hooper, briefly bowed her head.
Ms Patton's brother, Mark, did the same.
Silence greeted the decision in the courtroom, but a large crowd gathered outside in the court overflow marquee applauded when the verdict was delivered.
About 100 observers outside clapped and cheered as the jury forewoman told the court: "We find the accused guilty of murder."
Islander Tom Lloyd, who for 40 years published the local newspaper, said the observers' reaction would be echoed across the tiny Pacific territory.
"It gives an indication that everybody is so pleased that it's over," Mr Lloyd said.
"That dark cloud that has been hanging over the island has lifted."
Laurie "Bucket" Quintal, a former boyfriend of Ms Patton who was named as a person of interest at the 2004 coronial inquest into her murder, learned of the verdict as he arrived at the court.
There would be "big celebrations tonight, everybody on Norfolk," he said.
Ms Patton "didn't deserve none of this," he told reporters.
"The island didn't deserve none of this."
McNeill's lawyer John Brown described his client as "a gentleman" and flagged the possibility of an appeal in the case.
"There are significant grounds of appeal," he said.
"There's a lengthy time in which to lodge an appeal and that will be considered in detail, but we will make a statement tomorrow morning."
Ms Patton's family, who sat through the trial, is expected to make a statement today.
McNeill was remanded in custody, to be sentenced at a later date by Chief Justice Mark Weinberg.
- AAP
