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Convicted child abuser Peter Ellis is tired after trying to clear his name for 15 years but his lawyer has been watching David Bain's case before the Privy Council with great interest.
Judith Ablett Kerr said Bain's London appeal could give an important insight into how she might go about the appeal on Mr Ellis' behalf, which she now hopes will go before the council for an initial hearing by July.
The council retired yesterday to consider the appeal by Bain's legal counsel against his conviction for murdering five members of his family in Dunedin in 1995.
"I am obviously following the Bain case with great interest and will be interested in analysing the result to see where it is the Law Lords are coming from and what are the factors that are relevant to them when they are reviewing a New Zealand decision," Mrs Ablett Kerr said.
"This is a bench we rarely see in operation and their perceptions of justice and the safety of verdicts is really quite important, and it may not be the same perception as we have in New Zealand."
Mr Ellis said yesterday: "I'm tired. It has been 15 years of justice denied."
He was convicted of sexually abusing children at the Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre, where he worked. He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, and is now free and continuing to proclaim his innocence.
Mrs Ablett Kerr said she would soon file to go before the council for a "first stage" hearing.
In this hearing, the council considers whether there is a case to go to a full hearing. The process was a long, complicated and expensive one. Mrs Ablett Kerr said she and her "little team" worked on the case when they could.
