Author wants Rayney writ ended
Lawyers for justice campaigner Estelle Blackburn, her publisher and editor have tried to end Lloyd Rayney's defamation suit against them, arguing her crime book did not impute the barrister killed his wife or procured someone else to do it.
Mr Rayney was in the Supreme Court yesterday as barrister Robert Anderson argued the case was untenable.
He suggested the suit relied on a reading of the relevant chapter that was forced, strained or unreasonable.
Mr Anderson suggested the chapter The Bootscooter Who Did Not Make It Home: The Murder of Corryn Rayney in the book Mad, Bad and Mysterious - Murder, Rape and Pillage in Australia, did not give rise to any means of guilt and instead had material favourable to Mr Rayney.
Mr Rayney began the defamation action in 2010. He was found not guilty in late 2012 of murdering his estranged wife.
Perth lawyer Martin Bennett, for Mr Rayney, said Mr Anderson was selective in what he highlighted to the judge.
He said other parts of the book, including the caption "uncomfortable in the spotlight" under an image of Mr Rayney and "successful in law, unhappy in marriage" under an image of Mrs Rayney referred to a suggestion their marriage was at "crisis point".
