'"We won'': Jeffrey and Robecca Gilham outside court this morning. Pictures: Dean Sewell
Unhappy: Tony Gilham
Jeffrey Gilham was acquitted of murder today in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal.
He had been accused of stabbing his parents and brother to death, then setting fire to their home at Woronora in 1993.
A relieved Mr Gilham spoke to the media outside court this afternoon.
‘‘This has been a horrendous experience for us,’’ Mr Gilham said.
‘‘I am glad today that I have been acquitted of the charges. I am very happy to be going home a free man. All I want to do is go home.’’
His wife, Robecca, said she was ''just thrilled to be able to tell our girls that daddy is never going back to prison''.
She embraced her husband as the verdicts were handed down and supporters at the back of the court joyfully exclaimed, ''It's over''.
But Jeffrey's uncle, Tony Gilham, said he would continue to fight to clear the name of his nephew Christopher Gilham and push for Jeffrey to be imprisoned.
Tony Gilham said: ''There's only one killer here, and that's Jeffrey Gilham''.
The three judges were divided as to whether to acquit Mr Gilham or move for a retrial.
Chief Justice Peter McClellan moved for a retrial.
The other two judges — Elizabeth Fullerton and Peter Garling — agreed Mr Gilham, 42, should not face retrial and that he be acquitted of the murder of his parents.
Mr Gilham had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his brother, Christopher, but claimed that Christopher killed his parents and tried to destroy evidence of the murder.
He was charged with the murder of his parents in 2006 and went to trial in 2008.
The first jury could not find a verdict, but a retrial jury convicted Mr Gilham of murder and sentenced him to life in prison.
But forensic evidence that put him behind bars was questioned successfully last year and the murder conviction was quashed.
Mr Gilham, who was released on bail last November, had been waiting to know whether the appeals court will acquit him of his parents’ murder.
THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
1993: Stephen Gilham, 58, his wife Helen Gilham, 55, their older son, Christopher, 25, died at their Woronora home after being stabbed multiple times, and their house set on fire.
1995: Younger brother Jeffrey Gilham, 23, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his brother, saying he came to the house from the boatshed on the property where he had been sleeping and saw what Christopher had done, then killed him in a fit of rage.
2008: After Jeffrey Gilham faced a trial for murdering his parents the jury was unable to reach a verdict, but a second jury during a second murder trial found him guilty of the two murders.
2009: Jeffrey Gilham was sentenced to life imprisonment for double murder.
2011: Gilham’s appeal heard. Conviction later quashed after a new expert witness casts doubts on a fundamental part of the Prosecution case.
2012: Gilham acquitted