Murder trial won’t start this year

The trial for a man accused of murdering a Kelowna woman in 2013 will not take place until 2019.

Jay Sinclaire Thomson, 61, was arrested on Nov. 29, 2017, and charged with second-degree murder in the death of 27year-old Theresa Neville of Kelowna.

His trial will go ahead in B.C. Supreme Court without a preliminary inquiry.

In court Monday, Crown prosecutor Mark Levitz said he was ready to proceed with the six-week trial starting Oct. 1.

However, defence lawyer Grant Gray said he did not have six weeks free in October.

“It was never committed to, certainly by myself, that we’d be available then,” he said.

Gray also raised the issue of having enough time to review documents disclosed by the Crown.

“Realistically, it will probably be early in the new year,” he said on the timing of the trial.

Lawyers in the case will reconvene on May 7 to fix a date for trial.

On June 18, 2013, police responded to a 911 call from a home in the Glenmore area of Kelowna at 12:37 a.m.

On arrival, officers discovered Neville’s body and deemed her death a homicide.

Her two daughters, ages eight and 10 at the time, were home when paramedics arrived at their rented house at 397 Yates Rd.

The children were unharmed and may have been sleeping when their mom was killed, said police.

In 2016, police said they were confident the murder was not a random attack.