Would Christopher Skase receive a fair trial?

Christopher Skase continues to attract considerable public interest. His high media profile has made him the object of a sustained legal and diplomatic campaign to bring him before an Australian court. This article considers whether Christopher Skase would receive a fair criminal trial if he returned or was returned to Australia. It is argued that there are significant obstacles to ensuring the fairness of any criminal trial which Mr Skase may face. The prejudicial publicity surrounding this case may be such that an Australian court would find it impossible to ensure that Mr Skase was not tried unfairly. In that event, a permanent stay of proceedings may be granted. While the present analysis is confined to Mr Skase, the difficulties canvassed in this article may have general application in cases attended by prejudicial publicity. The significance of this is that for whatever social and technological reasons, prejudicial publicity is not confined to cases as (in)famous as that involving Mr Skase.