Barlows wait for Privy Council news

Angela Barlow has probably become quite good at waiting.

She has spent the past 14 years getting plenty of practice as her husband John Barlow serves a prison sentence for a double- murder he is adamant he did not commit.

As her husband's lawyer last night appeared before five Privy Council law lords in London in the last bid to clear his name, Mrs Barlow waited again to hear how he had fared.

"We're quite positive but you know, we've had so many knock- backs we're just trying to keep an even keel. It's very much just waiting and hoping."

Barlow was found guilty in a third trial of the murder of Gene and Eugene Thomas, after two juries failed to reach a verdict, and sentenced to a minimum 14-year jail term.

The father and son businessmen were found shot in Wellington in 1994. Barlow maintains that he is innocent of the killings.

The Privy Council has set the case down for two days.

Lawyer Greg King must first persuade the court to hear the case despite the Court of Appeal refusing to. If they agree to, their decision could take anywhere from six weeks to six months.

The appeal will hinge on FBI evidence used in the third trial that compared metal in the bullets that killed the pair with bullets Barlow had.

Mrs Barlow said Mr King had made an excellent submission. "We just hope that they'll be honest and look at it without political motivation."

Mr King said if the Privy Council decided to hear the case, it had four options:

* Refer the case back to New Zealand's Court of Appeal.

* Quash the convictions and leave the New Zealand courts to decide whether to try the case again.

* Quash the convictions and acquit Barlow.

* Reject the appeal.

- NZPA and staff reporter