Now I understand how Thomas felt, says Bain

David Bain has briefly broken his silence on the battle over his compensation claim by comparing his situation to that of Arthur Allan Thomas, whose wrongful conviction for the Crewe killings rocked the nation.

Justice Minister Judith Collins caused an outcry when she criticised an independent report into Bain's compensation bid for containing errors, then released it to the media.

Bain, making Christmas mince pies on Saturday at the Casebrook home he shares with fiancee Liz Davies, confirmed how hard he had been hit by Collins' salvo: "After all the excitement, I can truly understand Arthur Allan Thomas' comment when he said something like no NZ judge has ever helped him."

Thomas was convicted in 1971 of the Harvey and Jeannette Crewe murders, but pardoned and released from prison in 1979 - and paid compensation.

Police were found to have planted evidence. But Bain said that was all he intended saying publicly on the issue while his supporters, including former All Black Joe Karam and legal adviser Michael Reed QC, dealt with the ramifications of the rejection of the compensation report written by retired Canadian judge Ian Binnie.

Karam said Bain would be relaxing over Christmas with Davies' family.

Justice Binnie, 73, recommended compensation be paid to Bain as he believed he was unlikely to have been responsible for the 1994 murder of his parents, brother and two sisters.

But Collins said his report went beyond its mandate and contained extensive errors. She ordered another report.