Mei Fan murder: Michael Preston's appeal dismissed

  • 01/12/2016
(supplied)
(supplied)

Wellington man Michael Preston, who was jailed for murdering his estranged wife Mei Fan in 2013, has had an appeal against his conviction and sentence dismissed.

Preston, 60, was sent to prison for a minimum of 19 years in December last year.

He was also found guilty of a second charge of breaching a protection order.

The Court of Appeal found that Mr Preston had not shown that a miscarriage of justice occurred in his trial, as he had argued.

In a decision released on Thursday, the court also found that the prison sentence imposed on him was "not manifestly excessive" or "out of line with sentencing in comparable cases".

As a result the appeals to both the conviction and sentencing were dismissed.

Ms Fan was killed in her Miramar home in November 2013 after dropping her two children at school.

She was stabbed a number of times in an attack described as "deeply personal" by sentencing judge Justice Joe Williams at the Wellington High Court.

Ms Fan had taken out a protection order against Preston the day before she died.

The Crown contended Ms Fan's murder was the culmination of a toxic relationship and was to do with custody of the pair's children.

The defence suggested the death was a burglary gone wrong, while Preston pointed to a number of other people could have committed the crime.

Newshub.