Man found guilty of Sydney murder

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A British-born man has been found guilty in an Australian court of throwing his lover to her death at a notorious suicide spot in Sydney.

The New South Wales Supreme Court heard that former chauffeur Gordon Wood, 45, threw Caroline Byrne, 24, off The Gap in 1995 because she was to leave him.

The Gap consists of a sheer cliff drop of more than 180 feet.

Ms Byrne's father Tony said the guilty verdict had brought both "a sense of sadness" and "enormous relief".

The prosecutor also said Wood was afraid that his lover, who was a model, could divulge potentially damaging information about the private and professional life of his former employer, stockbroker Rene Rivkin.

Mr Rivkin killed himself in 2005. The comfort that has come from this verdict is difficult to describe, it's a wonderful feeling Tony Byrne

The three-month trial had involved scores of witnesses including TV starlets, a stuntman, an ex-cabinet minister and a former tattoo artist.

This was the second set of legal proceedings; Wood's initial trial, which had begun in July, was aborted one month later.

Experts were called to elaborate on tests conducted on whether Ms Byrne could have landed 36 feet out from the cliff base if she had jumped, instead of being thrown.

The prosecution described Wood, a former fitness instructor, as a possessive "control freak" boyfriend who used a "spear-throw" to toss Ms Byrne off The Gap.

This cliff is a popular tourist spot on the southern headland of Sydney Harbour, with views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

Patient wait

But Wood's defence barrister said the couple had a loving relationship and that Ms Byrne, whose mother had killed herself in 1991, was a "high suicide risk".

Ms Byrne had overdosed on sleeping tablets in 1993 and days before her death, she saw a doctor who referred her to a psychiatrist when the model revealed she was "very, very depressed".

Wood had denied killing Ms Byrne, saying she killed herself. A coroner had recorded an open verdict in 1998 into Byrne's death, saying there was not enough evidence for a suicide ruling.

Wood lived in a Swiss ski village for several years after his girlfriend's death, but was arrested in 2006 in London after prosecutors decided there was enough evidence to charge him with murder.

Speaking after the verdict, Ms Byrne's 72-year-old father said: "The comfort that has come from this verdict is difficult to describe; it's a wonderful feeling.

"Justice is a strange word. Until you have sought it, you can never understand what it means and why it is so important."

Her brother Robert added: "We've waited so long as a family, patiently, for justice and society has given us that justice. We've got closure now; we can move on."