More than three years after he was acquitted of murder, Gordon Wood is suing the state claiming it has cost him millions and deliberately set out to harm him.
Mr Wood spent more than three years behind bars after being convicted of killing his girlfriend Caroline Byrne by throwing her off a cliff at notorious Sydney suicide spot The Gap in June 1995.
His conviction was overturned in 2012.
Now the former chauffeur to stockbroker Rene Rivkin is suing the state.
In court documents released on Wednesday, Mr Wood is claiming damages and costs on a number of grounds, including malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.
At the time of Ms Byrne's death, he says in his statement of claim the objective facts led to the conclusion the 24-year-old had committed suicide.
Instead, Mr Wood claims, the state sought to convict him "regardless of his guilt or innocence". He alleges vital information was withheld from the 1997 coronial inquest as to the cause of Ms Byrne's death, including medical evidence of suicide.
Mr Wood also alleges the police were negligent by failing to take photographs of her body when it was found.
Then during his trial, he claims the crown prosecutor made a number of inappropriate submissions, including about his alleged motives and his relationship with Mr Rivkin.
The state "commenced and maintained the prosecution ... for the predominant purpose of harming" Mr Wood, court documents state.
As a result of the prosecution, Mr Wood says he has suffered reputational damage and stress, and during his "wrongful imprisonment" he was beaten at Goulburn jail, causing him physical and emotional harm. Before his prosecution, Mr Wood says he was earning between $400,000 to $800,000 a year.
Despite attempts, he has been unable to obtain employment since his acquittal. His total lost earnings - from the date of his arrest to retirement - is between $8.9 million to $17.8 million, he says.
But the state rejects Mr Wood's accusations of malice, saying it denies "that means contrary to the prosecutor's obligations of fairness were employed".
While it admits police did not take photographs of the location of Ms Byrne's body at the time, it denied such behaviour was negligent. It also denies it withheld evidence favourable to Mr Wood or that he was unlawfully imprisoned.
At trial the crown contended Mr Wood killed his girlfriend because she wanted to end their relationship and he feared she would reveal personal and business details about his boss, Mr Rivkin.
But in 2012, Justice Peter McClelland, sitting with Megan Latham and Stephen Rothman, told a packed courtroom at the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal they agreed the "verdict was unreasonable or cannot be supported having regard to the evidence".
"I am not satisfied that suicide can be excluded," he said.
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