A friend of the former Bermuda prosecutor charged with murdering his wife in Australia says the way he has been treated by Police is “totally out of order”.

Kulandra Ratneser, a former acting director of Public Prosecutions in Bermuda, worked with Lloyd Rayney both in Bermuda and in Western Australia.

He fears the media furore over Mr Rayney’s arrest and charge in Perth last week means he won’t get a fair trial.

Mr Rayney lived in Bermuda with his wife Corryn Rayney when he worked as a senior Crown counsel for the Department of Public Prosecutions in 2003 and 2004.

The pair, who have two daughters, later moved to Perth where Mr Rayney continued to work as a high-profile prosecutor.

Mrs Rayney went missing there after attending a line-dancing class on August 9, 2007. Her body was found in a bushland grave in a park nine days later.

Police named Mr Rayney shortly afterwards as their prime and only suspect in the killing. The announcement prompted him to launch defamation proceedings against Western Australia Police, which are ongoing.

He was arrested in Perth city centre last Wednesday and charged with the killing.

Mr Rayney denies any role in his wife’s death and has been remanded into custody pending a court appearance tomorrow when he is expected to plead not guilty.

Mr Ratneser, who is currently working for Western Australia’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), expressed his shock over the murder charge last week.

In further comments on the case over the weekend, he told The Royal Gazette: “The present situation in Perth is that the legal profession are up in arms about the public manner in which Rayney was arrested.

“It is claimed in the media that it’s a payback by the police for him suing the police and the government for damages against the police for having called him a prime suspect.

“As a person who has been DPP in three different countries in the Commonwealth I agree with the members of the legal profession in Western Australia that the manner in which he was arrested was totally out of order.

“In fact there is a swell of opinion that because of the publicity in the media Rayney will not have a fair trial in Western Australia.”

According to a report in The Australian newspaper last week, Western Australia’s DPP Joe McGrath has said his office would not be involved in the prosecution, due to Mr Rayney’s previous position.

Instead, the New South Wales DPP, Nicholas Cowdrey, has been called in to oversee the case.