A man jailed for at least 26 years over the 1993 cold case killing of Adelaide woman Suzanne Poll has lost an appeal against his murder conviction.
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Mrs Poll, 36, was found in a pool of blood in the rear of a stationery store where she worked. She had suffered at least 18 stab wounds, including some that went right through her body.
Matthew Donald Tilley, who lived in Alfredton at the time of his arrest in 2019, had argued errors were made during his trial in relation to the admission of DNA evidence, the judge's directions to the jury on motive and in relation to forensic and other material.
He also contended the jury had received an unbalanced summary of the case.
But in a judgment on Thursday, the Court of Appeal dismissed his challenge.
It found the judge's directions were not inadequate, he had not erred in allowing certain evidence and there had been no miscarriage of justice.
"When considered in its entirety, the trial judge's summing up was not unbalanced," the appeal court said.
"Nor did His Honour fail to adequately and fairly present the defence case."
Tilley was arrested in Ballarat in 2019 after his DNA was matched to blood found at the murder scene.
The DNA evidence, obtained from a coffee cup he threw away in Daylesford, was a key sticking point at his trial with his defence questioning whether the evidence had been properly preserved over almost three decades.
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In sentencing, Justice David Peek said Tilley's continued denials to killing Mrs Poll were knowingly false.
"You fled the scene and have been successful in evading police detection for many years," the judge told him.
"You continue, even now, to falsely deny your guilt, and you decline to offer any explanation as to how your conduct came about."
with Australian Associated Press
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