Historic battle concludes

David Bain, 37, now a free man “who served almost 13 years in prison for murdering his family, has been cleared after a retrial that was only secured by an appeal to the Privy Council” reports the Telegraph’s Paul Chapman. Bain was originally jailed in 1995 but he has consistently maintained his innocence and was released from prison in 2007 pending the retrial. As remarkable as the long-running saga itself has been the support Bain won from Joe Karam, a former All Black rugby player, who became convinced of his innocence after reading about the case. Karam has been the indefatigible driving force behind a series of attempts to get the original verdict overturned, has spent uncounted hours meticulously researching the evidence and writing books books on the subject, and has bankrolled the defence to the tune of millions of dollars of his own money. A tearful Bain said outside the court in Christchurch after Friday’s verdicts: “All I can say is that without Joe and his solid strength, without the love of the people that have supported me since day one, I wouldn’t have made it through this far.” The jury in the retrial had been instructed by the judge to return only unanimous verdicts, which took just six hours of deliberation.