Double child killer’s appeal dismissed
Double child killer Jeremy George McLaughlin’s appeal against his murder conviction has been dismissed.
McLaughlin was jailed in 2013 for a minimum of 23 years for strangling Christchurch schoolgirl Jade Bayliss, 13, stealing items from her family’s home and torching it in November 2011.
Last month at the Court of Appeal, McLaughlin contested: The use of expert evidence about how his DNA got under Jade’s fingernails; warnings the judge gave to the jury to assist them when considering what to make of his lies in a police interview and refusal to provide investigators with further information; and the judge’s summing up of the case.
The decision released by the Court of Appeal yesterday said: DNA evidence was properly used by the prosecutor and explained to the jury by the judge; the jury was entitled to use the scientific evidence as a factor in coming to its decision that McLaughlin was the murderer; the judge’s summing-up was fairly balanced and summarised McLaughlin’s main defences for the jury.
Any mistake made by the judge did not lead to a miscarriage of justice, because the other evidence the Crown had was overwhelming.
Jade’s mother, Tina Lawson, said yesterday news that the appeal had been dismissed was ‘‘fantastic’’. "Unless anything drastic happens he [McLaughlin] will be behind bars for a very long time – until he’s an old, decrepit man.’’
McLaughlin was convicted of the manslaughter of Phillip Vidot, 14, and of grievous bodily harm to Tyron Williams, after a violent attack in Perth in 1995.