Rayney was arrested in December last year and charged with the murder of his wife, Corryn, whose body was found in bushland in August 2007.

Appearing before the Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court yesterday, Rayney pleaded not guilty and was committed to stand trial in July.

Corryn was a law graduate and a registrar with the WA Supreme Court at the time of her death. She and Rayney met through social legal circles in Perth.

Rayney was formerly a lawyer with the Australian Government Solicitor and the WA Director of Public Prosecutions before becoming a barrister.

He is being represented by the Perth barrister Anthony Elliot.

A former solicitor with the WA Director of Public Prosecutions, Elliot also spent 10 months as the deputy Director of Public prosecutions in Fiji in 2008.

He was elected to the Western Australian Bar Association in 2009.