AG wins time to fight Qld killer's release

A convicted killer and rapist will remind behind bars for now after Queensland's attorney-general won time to appeal his release.

Mark Richard Lawrence, 52, was last week supposed to be freed from prison after 30 years, when a judge ruled he could be released under strict supervision.

However, Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie indicated he had appealed the Supreme Court's decision and asked for a temporary stay of the judge's order.

On Tuesday, Court of Appeal Justice Robert Gotterson granted the request, saying there were grounds for an appeal.

"I am of the view that the availability to the applicant of an arguable ground of appeal together with the nature and degree of the risk of harm to others combine to warrant the grant of a stay of the orders," Justice Gotterson said in a written judgment.

Lawrence, a diagnosed sexual sadist, has spent the past 30 years behind bars for crimes including cutting the throat of a female psychiatric patient and raping a prisoner.

Justice Philip McMurdo last Friday decided he wouldn't be a danger to the community if released under strict supervision.