An 86-year-old man accused of killing an acquaintance 23 years ago has been found guilty of manslaughter.
After five hours of deliberations on Wednesday, a Supreme Court of Western Australia jury found Ronald Leslie Pennington guilty of unlawfully killing Cariad Anderson-Slater, 41, in 1992.
The cause of death isn't known.
The court heard Ms Anderson-Slater and her husband David Slater were befriended by Pennington soon after they moved to Perth when they visited an art gallery and he offered to repair their antique books.
The couple, originally from Scotland, had dinner at Pennington's home on July 12, the night before she disappeared.
Mr Slater testified on the first day of the retrial on Monday last week that it was a short and unpleasant gathering because Pennington was in a foul mood after kicking out a boarder, and the three had argued about the royal family and republicanism.
Mr Slater said he left early with his wife, who was prone to episodes of binge drinking. She had drunk excessively that night.
When they returned to their Wembley home, they argued because she wanted to keep drinking, Mr Slater said.
But he wanted to go to sleep because he had to work the next day at a new job.
Prosecutor Justin Whalley said Ms Anderson-Slater ended up going next door to visit neighbours wearing her bedclothes, before taking a taxi back to the Woodlands home rented by Pennington, who was a heavy drinker.
Ms Anderson-Slater's remains were found 19 years later, during a home renovation, buried in the backyard of the home Pennington had rented.
Defence lawyer Simon Frietag argued Mr Slater was himself a "viable alternative suspect", citing the fact he changed his will nine days after she vanished, describing himself as a widower.
Pennington has been remanded in custody and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 4.
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