EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment ruling handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.

Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions has urged the High Court to refuse George Pell’s bid to appeal his conviction for multiple child sex offences, warning it should be reluctant to override a jury verdict with its own judgments about the bitterly divisive case.

Kerri Judd, QC, told the High Court there was no error in the Victorian Court of Appeal’s majority decision to uphold Pell’s conviction and the Cardinal’s legal team had failed to raise any important question of law in his application for special leave to appeal.

George Pell's only chance at overturning his conviction is if the High Court agrees to hear the case. Credit:Jason South

Ms Judd said that Court of Appeal Justice Mark Weinberg’s dissenting view that Pell had been wrongly convicted was not grounds, on its own, for the High Court to grant an appeal.