New ruling expected on Azaria Chamberlain's death

Lindy and Mark Chamberlain in 1988. File photo / NZ Herald

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton is expected to fly into Darwin ahead of a court decision which may find her baby daughter Azaria died from a dingo attack in 1980.

A Northern Territory coroner, Elizabeth Morris, is scheduled on Tuesday to deliver her findings into the death of Azaria - the fourth inquest into the child's disappearance was held earlier this year.

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, who was originally jailed over the death before being released three years later, will in Darwin for the inquest findings, a spokeswoman for her agent confirmed on Friday.

The latest inquest heard that several children had been attacked by dingoes since nine-week-old Azaria disappeared from Uluru in 1980.

If the inquest finds a dingo most likely killed the child, Azaria's death certificate could be officially changed from "unknown".

Both the counsel assisting the coroner and the Chamberlains' lawyer told the latest inquest in February that they now believed a dingo was the most likely cause of Azaria's death.

University of Melbourne legal expert David Studdert said he thought the coroner would probably back that theory.

"The fact that there are two sides to the inquest asking for the same thing makes it more likely," Professor Studdert told AAP.

"That was the very reason to re-open the inquest in the first place."

But Prof. Studdert said it was no certainty as the coroner's findings might be different.

However, Ms Morris' findings could be the final chapter in what has been one of Australia's most enduring sagas since baby Azaria disappeared in 1980.

Court hearings in the 1980s ruled Azaria's mother Lindy Chamberlain, as she was then known, be jailed for murder and her then husband Michael Chamberlain given a suspended sentence after being found guilty of being an accessory after the fact.

After Azaria's matinee jacket was found in 1986 the case was reopened and a royal commission in 1987 exonerated both parents.

In 1988 the Northern Territory Court of Criminal Appeals overturned all convictions against the Chamberlains.

Despite their exoneration, a coronial inquest into the disappearance of Azaria in 1995 delivered an open verdict.

Since that decision Lindy Creighton-Chamberlain and Michael Chamberlain have been fighting to have Azaria's death certificate changed.

-AAP