By Caroline Williams of 
Gail Maney says she never met Deane Fuller-Sandys, who disappeared in 1989. Photo: Jason Dorday/Stuff.
The Court of Appeal has agreed to hear the case of Gail Maney, who has spent more than 20 years pleading her innocence in the murder of Deane Fuller-Sandys.
Maney was convicted of the 1989 murder of Fuller-Sandys in 1999, and during a retrial in 2000.
Fuller-Sandys, a tyre fitter, was presumed to have drowned during a fishing trip near West Auckland's Whatipu Beach in 1989. His body was never found.
A decade later, police concluded that Fuller-Sandys had instead been shot and killed by gang member Stephen Stone at the request of Maney, after Fuller-Sandys allegedly stole drugs from her home.
Maney spent 15 years in prison for the crime she says she did not commit. She maintains there was no such burglary and that she never even met Fuller-Sandys.
Maney and her legal team, led by Julie-Anne Kincade KC, have been working on a third court appeal since 2018, following the release of the Gone Fishing podcast by Stuff journalist Adam Dudding and RNZ journalist at the time Amy Maas in 2018.
Tim McKinnel, a private investigator and former police officer, said two of the witnesses have since said there was no shooting and that police told them what to say.
On Friday, the Court of Appeal decided the appeal would be heard in August 2024, alongside an appeal from Stone, who remains in prison for the murders of Fuller-Sandys and Stephens.
In a statement, Maney said the news that she would get to plead her case was "huge".
"I have fought to prove my innocence since 1997 when this nightmare began.
"I won't stop until I prove my innocence. None of what the Crown argued in court ever happened.
"Right now I feel emotionally overwhelmed, excited and grateful. I will take some time to process the fact that, after all these years, I have a hearing in just a few months."
The prosecution's case against Maney was largely based on the evidence of four key witnesses, two who received permanent name suppression and immunity from prosecution after admitting their involvement in the rape and murder of Leah Stephens.
Stephens, 20, disappeared five days after Fuller-Sandys. Her remains were found in a forest near Muriwai in 1992.
Fuller-Sandys' death was upgraded to a homicide investigation after police received a tip off that the two cases might be linked - the theory was that Stone raped and murdered Stephens as she had witnessed Fuller-Sandys' being shot.
This story was originally published by Stuff.
