Former Rene Rivkin chauffeur Gordon Wood loses lawsuit after acquittal of Caroline Byrne murder

GORDON Wood has lost a $20 million malicious prosecution lawsuit launched against the state after he was acquitted of murdering his model girlfriend more than two decades ago.

Gordon Wood having a coffee during a court break.

GORDON Wood has lost a malicious prosecution lawsuit launched against the state for millions after he was acquitted of murdering his model girlfriend more than two decades ago.

The now 55-year-old former chauffeur to celebrity stockbroker Rene Rivkin was in 2008 found guilty of throwing his 24-year-old girlfriend Caroline Byrne off notorious Sydney suicide cliff The Gap more than two decades ago.

Gordon Wood outside court during the hearing at the Supreme Court. Picture: John Grainger

But that conviction was quashed in 2012 after Mr Wood had spent three years in prison.

Caroline Byrne’s body was found at the bottom of The Gap at Watsons Bay in 1995.

He sued the state in the Supreme Court for more than $20 million in damages for malicious prosecution, abuse of process and misfeasance in public office.

PICTURE GALLERY: Gordon Wood and Caroline Byrne

Today Justice Elizabeth Fullerton was critical of star Crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC and his conduct during the high profile trial.

Ms Byrne’s mangled body was found on jagged rocks at the bottom of The Gap at Watsons Bay on June 8, 1995.

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