A convicted killer who remains adamant someone else murdered his wife 34 years ago will no longer be subjected to state supervision.
The NSW Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a state government claim that Thomas Andrew Keir poses an unacceptable risk of committing another serious offence involving intimate partner violence.
Keir, 64, was convicted in 2004 after a retrial for the 1988 murder of his first wife Jean, whose bones were discovered buried in Keir's backyard.
He had earlier been acquitted of murdering his second wife, Rosalie, whose strangled body was found in the martial home in 1991.
Released to parole in 2019 in the final months of a 22-year sentence and then placed on post-sentence supervision orders, Keir has spent nearly three years under the close watch of authorities.
But the government's bid to keep their eye on Keir for another two years failed on Monday.
While there was no suggestion Keir had breached any supervision orders, the state argued it had concerns about his conduct, particularly with women and, separately, his alcohol use.
In one instance, Keir told his supervision officer he'd struck up a conversation with a drunk woman, walked her home and then returned to his home.
But Justice Richard Cavanagh said he had some difficulty with the state's suggestion there were some parallels between that and Jean's murder.
On one view, the judge said, Keir had done what he was required to do - not take his meeting any further than he had and report the encounter to authorities.
"In some respects, this is an unusual matter, as the defendant is a person who has served his full term of imprisonment without incident and has complied with the conditions of supervision imposed upon him since being released," the judge said.
"Putting aside the allegation in respect of his second wife, his criminal history is limited to one event which occurred in 1988, albeit the offending was of the most severe type, being murder."
The judge noted the England-born Keir works full-time, lives independently, participates in ten-pin bowling and appears to have some community support.
Two medical experts called by the state suggested Keir posed at most, a moderate risk of reoffending.
But those opinions were qualified, Justice Cavanagh said.
"In the end, I am very much left with the impression of the experts being uncertain in their opinions," he said.
By law, Justice Cavanagh couldn't impose another supervision order unless he was satisfied it was highly probable Keir was an unacceptable risk of committing another serious offence.
The state was ordered to pay costs.
Keir was represented by Legal Aid.
