Peter John Wetzler, accused of murdering fiance Debra Campbell in 1984, to be released from custody

A man arrested over the alleged murder of missing RAAF worker Debra Campbell in 1984 is set to be released from custody after prosecutors dramatically pulled an application to have him detained.

Debra Campbell, then 21, who went missing in Melbourne on 25 February 1984. Picture: Supplied

The former RAAF worker dramatically arrested this week over the alleged murder of his missing fiance Debra Campbell nearly 40 years ago is set to be released after prosecutors dropped their detention application.

Peter John Wetzler, now aged 66, will still need to front Melbourne Magistrates’ Court next Friday where he will formally face the murder charge – and is expected to be placed back into custody – following a reinvestigation into the disappearance of 21-year-old Ms Campbell in 1984.

Police, including investigators from the Victorian missing persons squad who were in charge of the fresh investigation, arrested Wetzler at his Cardiff South on Wednesday before making an application to have him extradited to Victoria to face the murder charge.

However, their plans went awry when Wetzler’s lawyer, Manny Conditsis, successfully argued that his client should be released on bail after highlighting a lack of evidence on a police fact sheet before Belmont Local Court and a series of conditions which, he said, could assist in making sure Wetzler still made it to Melbourne for his first appearance.

But before Wetzler could be released, prosecutors applied for a stay and were planning to appeal the bail decision by making their own detention application in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday.

Peter Wetzler’s lawyer Manny Conditsis (pictured) confirmed that prosecutors had informed the NSW Supreme Court that a proposed detention application was not going ahead.

However, Mr Conditsis confirmed on Friday afternoon that he had been informed by the office of the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions that the detention application would not be going ahead.

It meant Wetzler could be released from Shortland Correctional Centre at Cessnock as early as Friday night.

Peter John Wetzler

Debra Campbell

He would then have to make his own way to Melbourne for his court appearance on September 15, where it was expected he would again be taken into custody – at least until a planned bail application to again have him released was made in the Supreme Court of Victoria in the coming weeks.

The court heard on Wednesday that Wetzler, a former RAAF employee who has been working for the Australian Taxation Officer for 18 years, has been married to his current wife for 35 years and has two adult children.

Ms Campbell, also member of the RAAF, went missing from her home in Windsor, in Melbourne’s inner-south, on the night of February 25, 1984.

A 1998 coronial inquest found Ms Campbell was likely to be deceased but the circumstances of her death were unable to be determined.

The arrest also follows Victorian police publicly releasing information about a search warrant on Wetzler’s home in Cardiff South in March after announcing the reinvestigation into Ms Campbell’s disappearance.