Brett Peter Cowan, the 45-year-old convicted by the Queensland Supreme Court in March this year, has lodged an appeal citing a precedent about the admissibility of the taped evidence set in a similar case in Canada.
Cowan’s lawyer Tim Meehan told reporters that Cowan is keen to have another day in court and that a retrial would change his client’s life “incredibly”.
“He’s very happy that we’ve got a date, he’s very keen for the appeal to run,” Mr Meehan said.
“Really the centre-point of the whole argument is the admissions that Brett made to the undercover officers should never have seen the light of day.
“They should never have been played to the jury.”
Daniel Morcombe was abducted from an unofficial bus stop in Woombye on the Sunshine Coast shortly before Christmas in 2003. What followed was one the longest running and most extensive investigations in Australian criminal history.
Cowan was arrested and charged with Daniel’s murder in 2011 after police elicited the videotaped confession in an undercover operation known as ‘Mr Big’ in which police enticed Cowan to confess to his crimes by posing as criminals seeking new members for their gang. Weeks after his arrest, police discovered Daniel’s remains – three bones – at a search site in Queensland’s Glasshouse Mountains.
Daniel’s parents say they are unconcerned by the latest move by Cowan’s legal team. “Look to be honest we’re quite comfortable with the appeal process,” Daniel’s father Bruce said. “We knew it was going to happen.”
In an ironic twist, Queensland prosecutors have also lodged an appeal against Cowan’s 20-year prison sentence arguing that it is inadequate.
Cowan’s appeal is set to be heard at the end of November.
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