Former Bermuda prosecutor Lloyd Rayney is to plead not guilty to murdering his estranged wife.

Mr Rayney lived on the Island 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 has 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.

She used to work as a Supreme Court Registrar in Western Australia. Mr Rayney was arrested in Perth city centre on Wednesday and charged with the killing.

He appeared at Perth Magistrates Court yesterday, and according to local reports, his barrister Sam Vandongen told chief magistrate Steven Heath his client would defend the charges. “Obviously, he intends to plead not guilty,” Mr Vandongen said.

Mr Rayney, who denies any role in his estranged wife’s death, was remanded into custody and is due to appear in court again next Wednesday.

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

Instead, the New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdrey, has been called in to oversee the case.

“Mr Rayney, a former senior prosecutor with the West Australian DPP, and his wife, who was a Supreme Court registrar, have been so entangled in the state’s judicial system that an interstate or retired judge is also likely to sit on the trial,” reported the paper.