Defence counsel: David Edwardson

He may be based in South Australia but David Edwardson is no stranger to WA’s courts as he takes the defence reins in Lloyd Rayney’s Supreme Court trial.

Nor is it the first time he has handled a high-profile murder case in Perth.

Mr Edwardson, who was called to the bar in 1994 and appointed Queen’s counsel in 2006, played a crucial part last year in the first Australian murder trial filmed for television. In it, he defended a Perth mechanic against allegations he murdered his de facto on the ground of insanity.

The televised trial was not the first time Mr Edwardson had taken on a significant WA murder case. His name peppered reports of the shocking 2006 murder of Perth teenager Stacey Mitchell after he took a role representing one of the young female lovers who admitted the brutal killing.

The criminal barrister’s client list in his home State has ranged from gang leaders and bikies to Richard Phillips — the angry husband who struck then-SA Premier Mike Rann with a rolled up magazine in 2009 over an allegation the politician had an affair with his wife.

Mr Edwardson is headed for the limelight again as he fights another high-profile case.

But as he unleashes his defence ammunition over the coming months, the biggest scrutiny will perhaps come from fellow barrister and murder accused Mr Rayney whose freedom now rests in his hands.