Rayney bid to halt phone bug case

Lloyd Rayney's defence team will apply for a permanent stay in his alleged phone bugging case after the Commonwealth prosecution decided to proceed with the charges.

Mr Rayney, who was acquitted of murder after a high-profile trial in 2012 that alleged he killed his wife Corryn in 2007, attended the District Court this morning where his lawyer said the defence team would be applying for the court to halt the phone-tapping case.

The prosecution alleges the father-of-two breached federal laws by allegedly organising an illegal intercept on his home telephone to secretly listen to his wife's calls in the months leading up to her death.

The Commonwealth had earlier this month told the court they needed more time to consider a defence request for it to drop the case.

But today, Mr Rayney's lawyer Philip Urquhart said he had received a verbal response from the prosecution which he was waiting to have confirmed in writing, and that his client was now applying for a Legal Aid grant to fund a permanent stay application.

The application must be heard by a judge and, if successful, would see the case put on permanent hold.

The court was told Mr Rayney, who has ceased practising as a barrister, had been granted previous Legal Aid grants to fund his defence prior to this point.

Mr Urquhart also told the court that disclosure was still pending on certain materials from the prosecution and that it was premature to list the case for trial and a date for the permanent stay application.

The matter was adjourned to March 20, with Mr Rayney's bail extended.

Commonwealth trials can not be heard by a judge alone, meaning they must always be decided by a jury panel.