Corryn Rayney

Corryn Rayney was born in Africa in 1963 to Goan/Indian parents, grew up in Uganda, and moved to Australia in 1973. She was alleged to have been murdered by her husband Lloyd Rayney on 7 August 2007.

A resident of Perth, Western Australia, Corryn Rayney was married to Lloyd Rayney, a prominent barrister; they had two daughters. She was employed as a registrar at the Supreme Court of Western Australia. She went missing on 7 August 2007 after attending a bootscooting class, and a week later her body was discovered in a shallow grave in a secluded area of Kings Park.

Although Lloyd Rayney was controversially described by the chief police investigator Senior Sergeant Jack Lee as the "only suspect" at a police press conference in September 2007, he was not charged with the murder until December 2010, more than three years after the event. An affidavit filed by the prosecutors indicates that the case is circumstantial. The prosecutor's opening address to the trial said that the state's case was circumstantial but the evidence of motive was compelling.

At the request of the defendant in October 2011, the trial is being held by a judge only, with no jury. The reasons for the application were suppressed at the time, but later published in March 2012. Lloyd Rayney wanted a trial without a jury, because he claimed that the extensive publicity would make a fair jury trial impossible to achieve. The decision to conduct the trial without a jury has been a matter of some debate in Australian legal circles.

Former Northern Territory Chief Justice Brian Ross Martin was appointed as an Acting Justice of the Western Australia Supreme Court in February 2012 to preside over the trial.

The trial began in July 2012 and was predicted to last for two months. it was still in progress.