Police have declared former Bermuda prosecutor Lloyd Rayney the prime suspect in his wife's murder, according to Australian media reports.

Forensic testing led police to believe Supreme Court Registrar Corryn Rayney was killed in the family home in Perth.

Her body was later dumped, the West Australian newspaper has reported.

Mrs. Rayney, 44, went missing after a dance class on August 7. Nine days later, her body was discovered by Police in a grave at a park in central Perth. According to the West Australian, Police revealed at a news conference yesterday that Mr. Rayney — a prominent Perth lawyer who worked in Bermuda as a Senior Crown Counsel from 2003 to 2004 — was not co-operating with Police. He is reported to have refused to allow detectives to question his two daughters.

The news conference followed raids on the Rayney home and Mr. Rayney's office in the city. Major Crime Detective Senior Sergeant Jack Lee said police forced their way into his Perth home after Mr. Rayney refused to open the door, causing minor damage to the house. He was taken from his home while forensic police carried out an extensive search.

Mr. Rayney was later arrested and charged on an unrelated matter under the Surveillance Devices Act which regulates the tapping of phones. No other charges have been laid. According to the West Australian report, Police will allege that a tap had been put on the family telephone used by Mrs. Rayney. He has been bailed, and is due to appear at Perth Magistrates' Court to face the charge on Tuesday.

The Australian Associated Press reported Detective Senior Sergeant Lee as saying: "Ongoing investigations and forensic evidence have led us to believe it is very likely Mrs. Rayney was murdered at her Monash Street home on Tuesday evening, August 7. At this time we have no intention and no evidence to suggest that Mr. Rayney is, in fact, responsible for this offence. He is our only suspect at this time. We do have a number of persons of interest."

It further quoted him as saying: "I am not suggesting the phone tap links him to the murder, I am simply saying that as a result of our investigations we have uncovered an illegal practice and we are prosecuting in relation to that."

Police had previously said they believed Mr. Rayney was at home with the couple's ten and 13-year-old daughters the night his wife disappeared. Detective Senior Sergeant Lee is reported to have said Police wanted to interview the girls again but were being prevented from doing so by their father. He also told the media that digging implements were recovered at the family home, but Police did not know if they were used to dig Mrs. Rayney's grave.

Bermuda lawyer Kulandra Ratneser was acting Director of Public Prosecutions when Mr. Rayney worked here. At the time the news of the murder first emerged, he told this newspaper: "I knew his wife very well. She lived here for a short time. She was an extremely nice lady and a very, very popular lawyer. She had an enormous career in front of her and would have become a judge. She was likely to have become one of the first coloured judges that Australia has had."

Mr. Ratneser, who also worked with Mr. Rayney in Western Australia prior to both coming to the Island, said Mrs. Rayney, 44, was originally from Goa, India, and was estranged from her husband but still living with him.

Reacting yesterday to news that Mr. Rayney has been declared a suspect, Mr. Ratneser said: "I am terribly surprised. I spoke to him when his wife went missing and he seemed quite distressed at the time. It's certainly taken me by surprise, but of course we don't know what actually happened. We'll have to wait and see."

He described Mr. Rayney as "a bit of a recluse," who was known in Bermuda as a regular churchgoer.