A MAN accused of helping dump the body of murdered mother Carly McBride and lying to police to protect her killer will face a third trial in 2025, more than a decade after the 31-year-old disappeared.
James Anthony Cunneen, now 32, was in 2022 found guilty of being an accessory after the fact to murder over the brutal death of Ms McBride at Muswellbrook in 2014, a jury finding he knew what happened to the "missing" mother and helped her killer, Sayle Kenneth Newson, cover up the crime by disposing of her body and creating a false alibi.
Cunneen was later jailed for a maximum of seven-and-a-half years, with a non-parole period of four years and was not eligible for parole until 2026.
But last month the Court of Criminal Appeal upheld an appeal against Cunneen's conviction, quashing the guilty verdict and ordering he face a new trial.
The reasons for the CCA's decision have not yet been made public.
Cunneen was released on conditional bail a week later and on Monday appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court via AVL from his solicitor's office where he was again arraigned on a charge of being an accessory after the fact to Ms McBride's murder.
Cunneen pleaded not guilty to harbouring, maintaining and assisting Newson between when Ms McBride was murdered on September 30, 2014 and when Cunneen was arrested in June, 2017.
The trial was set down for Sydney in March, 2025 and is expected to run for three months.
Cunneen first faced trial alongside Newson in Newcastle Supreme Court in 2019, but that trial was aborted after seven weeks and the proceedings were later severed.
Newson's trial was heard first and he was convicted of murder before Cunneen faced a trial in NSW District Court that ended with him being found guilty of being an accessory.
He successfully appealed and will now face a third trial over the allegations that he assisted Newson on the afternoon of September 30 and for the better part of the next three years maintained the cover-up.
Cunneen was the second man charged over the murder of Ms McBride to have his appeal determined last month after the Court of Criminal Appeal ruled 2-1 in favour of dismissing both the conviction and severity appeal for Ms McBride's jealous boyfriend Newson.
Newson's lawyers have said they are eyeing a potential appeal to the High Court of Australia after the dissenting judge ruled he would have quashed the murder conviction and ordered Newson face a new trial.
Newson, now 46, was in 2021 found guilty of murdering Ms McBride, a jury left with no doubt he was the person who intercepted the 31-year-old after she left a house at Muswellbrook on September 30, 2014, and inflicted a number of blows to her head and back before dumping her body near the side of a stretch of road outside Scone.
Ms McBride's skeletal remains were not found until August, 2016.
Newson was later sentenced to a maximum of 27 years in jail, with a non-parole period of 19 years and nine months and is not eligible for parole until 2038.
Newson's lawyers had argued he should be acquitted or a new trial ordered due to what they said were errors made by the trial judge.
But after reviewing the evidence, the Court of Criminal Appeal was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Newson was guilty and was the person responsible for killing Ms McBride.
