Appeal 15 years after SA murder conviction

A man jailed over a murder in Adelaide more than 15 years ago has won the right to appeal his conviction, successfully arguing that new evidence has emerged.

Brett Stuart Williams was jailed for life in 2000 with the Supreme Court setting an 18-year non-parole period over the murder of Phillip McCormack in 1999.

Mr McCormack's body was dumped in a mine shaft in the state's mid-north.

A jury found that Williams and another man, Harvey Hersbach, had used an iron bar and a hammer in the killing before disposing of the body.

The crown case relied heavily on the evidence of a key witness who described seeing the two men attack Mr McCormack before putting his body into the boot of a car.

But at his recent appeal application Williams, who represented himself, submitted that it had since become known that the witness had suffered psychiatric issues as a result of what she saw but her problems were not disclosed to the jury.

In her judgment on Wednesday, Justice Ann Vanstone said it was arguable that, had the witness been cross-examined about her mental state, the jury might have taken a different attitude to the reliability of her evidence.

She granted Williams leave to appeal to the full court which will also consider whether he should be given an extension of time with his original application lodged well outside the normal period.