Trial dates for the alleged Claremont serial killer are being held from May, despite lawyers for the accused indicating it would be impossible for them to start until later in the year.

Bradley Robert Edwards appeared in the Supreme Court today for a case management hearing in front of Justice Stephen Hall, who will be the trial judge.

The 49-year-old former telecommunications worker and Little Athletics volunteer is accused of murdering Ciara Glennon, Jane Rimmer and Sarah Spiers in the mid-1990s and committing sex attacks on teenagers in 1988 and 1995.

It has previously been estimated that Mr Edwards’ trial will take six months, but prosecutors now say the case could run for up to eight months.

Trial dates are being held starting from May 1, but Mr Edwards’ lawyer Paul Yovich said he did not think he could master all of the material he had received by then.

That material includes a 23,000 page trial brief, 400 gigabytes of data and about 2500 witness statements.

“Our strong view is that to start the trial on the first of May is impossible,” he said.

Mr Yovich said it would not do Mr Edwards any good if he were exhausted at the start of the trial.

He said he was hopeful he would be ready to start the trial by August.

Prosecutor Carmel Barbagallo told the court the State would be ready to proceed in May and she estimated the trial would take between seven and eight months.

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That estimate does not including the defence case, which Ms Barbagallo described as “a great unknown”.

Justice Hall said he was not prepared to change the trial dates that were being held because there was still some prospect that it could go ahead as planned.

He said he would not vacate the dates without a good and solid indication that the May start was “practically impossible or unfair”.

Mr Yovich said he was “acutely aware” of how long Mr Edwards had already spent in Hakea Prison.

“I don’t want this trial to start a day later than it has to and I don’t want it to be adjourned,” he said.

Prosecutors will make an application for propensity evidence to be considered, which is evidence not directly linked to the alleged crimes but which might show relevant past conduct.

Ms Barbagallo told the court the investigation into Mr Edwards was ongoing and police were still looking into “whatever they can”.

She said she was still waiting on information from Telstra employees about Mr Edwards’ time with the company, which would include where he worked and what cars he had access to.

Earlier this month, a judge ruled Mr Edwards’ trial would be heard by a judge alone, granting a State application to dispense with a jury.

The application was not objected by Mr Edwards’ lawyers.

Justice Hall will now hold a case management hearing once a month to check on the progress of the case.

The next hearing will be held on December 19.

It is alleged Mr Edwards first murdered Ms Spiers, whose body has never been found, after she had celebrated Australia Day in 1996 at Cottesloe’s Ocean Beach Hotel then Club Bay View.

He is accused of killing Ms Rimmer, a 23-year-old childcare worker, who went missing from Claremont in June 1996.

Ms Rimmer’s body was found in bush in Wellard two months later.

It is alleged Mr Edwards abducted Ms Glennon, a 27-year-old lawyer, after she went to Claremont’s Continental Hotel in March 1997.

Her body was found in bush in Eglinton 20 days later.

Mr Edwards is also accused of sexually assaulting a woman after breaking into her Huntingdale home in 1998 and abducting and raping a teenager in Karrakatta Cemetery in 1995.